Spyro: ACID Reign
by DarkSpyroIke
Summary: A gothic goat by the name of Phaydees returns to Ripto's Realm to avenge the death of her boyfriend Corky at his hands by casting a Punk Statue Spell. Can Spyro and his newfound friends unfreeze everyone before it's too late? Chapter 8 up.
1. Turban thieves In Training?

**Spyro: ACID Reign (Hey! A play on words!)**

**Rated PG-13 for gore, swearing, and crude humor**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Spyro characters, or any of the Spyro crap mentioned. The only things I own are my characters and concept of this story, etc. I wrote this over a year ago, so it's kinda crappy, but I'm improving on it. Any references made to movies/bands/television shows/music or anything else are purely coincidental and belong to their respective owners. Puri is copyright Purgon Draple, not me. Gawd, maybe I'll join Devian ART if people are really interested in this piece of Rhynoc feces, so people can see my artwork that goes along with it.**

**P.S.-I'll write the story of Ripto's past and what he had to do with A.C.I.D. when I'm about half through with this; the only thing I will say is Ripto transmogrified Zoloe into Crush in an A.C.I.D uprising with Melvin and killed Corky and transmogrified all the goats into Rhynocs. As we know, this is no real part of Spyro history or whatever you wanna call it. How's that for a cliffhanger?**

**A.C.I.D.- Arson Conspiracy Immoral Demons. I just love acronyms!**

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It was a brisk autumn night. All was peaceful and still. The bronze and golden-brown autumn leaves crunched under Spyro's claws as he walked home from a late night movie: Zombies From The Deep Freeze. As always, Sparx was with him and made an exceptional surrogate flashlight as they walked using a path they never used before through the woods in Autumn Plains. Elora said it was a useful trail and that it wasn't easy to get lost. Elora didn't know how wrong she was.

"That was a good movie," Spyro commented. He was still chomping on a Snickers bar.

"I forget what it was about," Sparx replied.

"Yeah, me too," Spyro agreed. "The only thing I remember is locking Ripto in the popcorn machine and Hunter getting his foot stuck in that urinal."

"That was funny and-- HOLY CRAP! LOOK AT THAT!" exclaimed Sparx.

There was a huge, ancient, rotting oak tree in the way of the path. Spyro wondered if Avalar had druids that lived in the trees. He surveyed it with a concerned eye.

"Well, I guess it's too big to flame and I can't risk that anyways; if druids really do live in these trees, Elora would jump down my throat." Spyro said. He looked to the sides of the path, which were densely crowded with trees. "Maybe we can backtrack and take that other shortcut through the cemetery."

Sparx shuddered. "Are you sure about this?"

"Aww, c'mon Sparx. Don't be a scaredy cat!" Spyro said teasingly.

And so they retraced their steps until they got to the cemetery. It was your typical spooky cemetery, like in every B-rated movie where everyone turns into zombie slaves to some mad scientist until some muscular stereotypical guy comes in and saves the day. A spiked fence surrounded the plots, ivy grew over creepy looking gargoyles with chipped wings and grotesque faces. Weathered headstones of dozens of unrecognizable people long returned to the earth were rampant. Oddly enough, two cloaked creatures surrounded a headstone, even though it was late at night. Both Spyro and Sparx thought this was odd.

"Who are they?" Sparx whispered as to not break the dead silence.

"I don't know…Turban thieves in training?" Spyro suggested as they passed by the two figures.

What the two didn't know, that not only were the two figures were mourning the loss of a loved one, they were here to plot revenge, for a wronged death at the hands of Spyro's arch-nemesis.

"Sniff oh poor Corky…" one of the figures wailed sadly.

"It's okay, Phaydees. Corky loved you; he would've wanted it this way. You know he's looking out over you…somewhere," the second figure replied and placed a calming consoling hand on the other's shoulder.

"Do you really think that five years in suspended animation was long enough for the heat to die down from HIS uprising? I've been waiting for this moment ever since I saw Corky stained with his own blood. Ripto deserves what's coming to him. Pray for us all, Corky. I love you." said the first. Red glowing eyes streaked with mascara tears shone out from the hood of her cape.

"You do remember the way to his castle, don't you?"

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Okey dokie then, first chapter written. Yes, I know it's horrible. Will Spyro and Sparx make it back to the Dragon Realms unscathed? Who are the two mysterious creatures and why do they want revenge for the mysterious death of "Corky"? Please R&R. Flames will be deleted, suggestions will be thought upon and GOOD comments, I will be thankful for. P.S This is my first story. And as for_ you_ Da Dark One a.k.a Da Dark Dick as certified by my sister and I: flake off. You have a bad taste in fanfiction.


	2. Trailer Trash Goth Goats

Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign

Chapter 2: Trailer Trash Goth Goats

Author's Notes: Hey, I didn't mention what A.C.I.D. is did I? Oops. A.C.I.D. or Arson Conspiracy Immoral Demons is a school where different people (creatures whatever) learn dark magic. First of all, it's total anti-Hogwarts. Second, this school is like a mix of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Blink-182's music video for "Feelin' This", where all the punk kids run around rampant and do whatever they want (But obviously, they don't tie the teachers up with electrical tape and throw them in jail cells and the girls don't run around in their underoos and empty out tampon machines and T.P. the bathroom stalls). Phaydees is I guess what you'd call the "Headmistress" but she acts more like a student and Zola and Zoloe are her two best friends/ henchwomen (?).

When Ripto and my fan- character Melvin overthrew the school system/government, then it looked a lot like the music video. Except people got killed and Zoloe transmogrified herself into Crush. Ripto already admitted that Gulp was from Molten Crater, but I never knew the origin of Crush, so I wrote this. Of course, we all know that this isn't true. The real Crush would never speak with a Downtown Flushings NY accent. I've been watching too many of "The Nanny" reruns.

No references were made toward Columbine purposely in this fic.

P.S. I know Ripto isn't this suicidal in real life (or is he… hmmm). Sorry if he's OOC.

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Ripto stormed into his throne room, mad as hell and very sticky, with Gulp and Crush following behind him like puppies. "So much for the movie," Ripto muttered angrily to himself as he sat on his throne and sent Gulp and Crush away. Coincidentally he had seen the same movie as Spyro, even though he himself didn't normally go to movies. Everyone there had participated in a huge soda fight. He didn't remember WHO had started the fight, but it was more interesting than any lame B-movie, any day. (which are the only kind of movies that Avalar shows)

Once the two idiots were gone, Ripto shut off all the lights. He liked the dark better. It helped him think, plot out his evil schemes and wallow in his hatred of Dragons. He sighed. What would be his next plan to get rid of that purple pest? There were some days where he was so frustrated that he wanted to warp himself to Spyro's house and slit his throat in his sleep. But it wasn't that easy. Things like this needed to be planned out. But Ripto, as we know, isn't always as enthusiastic as he seemed. Sometimes, he had the nerve to kill himself; anything would be better than living in failure. Just a jump out his bedroom window or slitting his wrists… Wait a minute. Why DID he want to kill himself? Then, Spyro would never be defeated, obviously, .Quickly, he shook off any lingering suicidal thoughts and muttered a spell to get his soda-drenched clothes clean. Then he remembered something. HE had started the soda fight, when he had finally managed to get out of the popcorn machine; that dammed Dragon would smell like a bad mixture of Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper for quite a long time. He smiled. Little did he know, right outside his window a conversation was going on…

"Do you have the jetpack?"

"Yes, ma'am. I can't believe this damn thing only fits one person, and it's such an ugly color…"

"Don't frazzle me, Zola. Do YOU want to go back in suspended animation, mortal? No? Good; get on my shoulders."

All of a sudden, there was a great rumbling and a WOOSH! as the two unidentifiable beings crashed through the window over Ripto's throne. Showered with broken glass, Ripto was uplifted by the topmost figure and plopped on their shoulders. The three were all screaming now.

"What the F---?!!"

"A.C.I.D. Rules! Kill the pig!"

"This is fun!!"

Cartoon-like, the three crashed into a wall. Ripto fell hard on his back. He shook his ugly head, and checked himself for slashes from the broken glass and for broken bones. Finding none, he reared his head to the two intruders. He couldn't believe his eyes at what he saw.

"YOU'RE- YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!- Or at least still in suspended animation." the short wizard stammered as he pointed a claw at the one of the figures.

Casually, the figure he pointed to took off its cape. The creature was a tall, female goat. Cruel yellow horns wound around her head and red flames burned in her eyes, literally. She wore a long black skirt with a decoration of red flames around the bottom and matching sports-bra. She smiled at him and said, "Well, hello, Ripto. Do you recognize me? Or has your ego grown so much you've blocked out all of your teenage memories?"

"I don't understand. Why are you here anyways? You could've easily come during the morning as you could at this odd hour of the night," he replied.

"You always gotta make an entrance, when you're evil, Ripto. Thought you would have learned that by now. Your master has come back to reclaim what is rightfully hers. And to seek revenge. Have you forgotten? Are you still the stupid idiot as I remember you? Don't you remember the fact that YOU KILLED CORKY??!" she screeched as the flames leapt higher in her eyes and she loomed over him like an over-aggravated anime character.

__

Well that was anti-climatic, Ripto thought to himself. "Of course I remember I killed Corky, Phaydees. And I'm damn proud of it too. Too bad you weren't brave enough to fight back when you saw him dying. Don't you remember that I used to like you? How the heck did you guys get in here, anyways?"

"No shit, Ripto," said the goat, who went by the name of Phaydees. "the castle remembers its maker and I broke through your Security Spells around it,. You knew you couldn't stay like this forever, Short Stuff. You knew I was watching you, you paranoid freak. I foresaw your fall at Avalar while you were still in A.C.I.D. Of course I knew that you liked me. But a student/ headmaster relationship would be too…"

"Remnant of Beverly Hills 90210?" the second creature spoke up from the corner where she had landed. She got up, took off her cape and brushed the dirt off her shoulders (Sorry everyone; I promised my friend Z-man that I would make a reference to Jay-Z in one of my stories.). "But isn't there only like a three-year age difference between you two?"

Ripto recognized the other creature too; she used to be one of his best friends. Her name was Zola, and she was dressed in a white blouse and short blue skirt and matching Adidas sneakers, just like the old A.C.I.D. girls' uniform. Her horns weren't as large as Phaydees' horns, more like the horns on a cow.

"Zola, you dork. Since when do you work for this stuck-up succubus?" Ripto said.

"You shut up, man. I'm like second in command now," Zola replied.

Suddenly, as if on cue, a huge explosion was caused by one of Gulp's missiles, which caused a good sized hole in one of the walls. Gulp appeared once the smoke had disappeared, but Crush wasn't with him as usual. Instead, there was a tall muscular, she-goat wearing cargo pants and a black tube top with a "Z" design done in crystals on one side. She looked similar to the other two goats, she even had the same "flames" in her eyes as Phaydees.

" Thanks for coming, Phay. I've been wanting to get out of that form for _ages,_" said the goat in an odd accent as she swept into a deep bow.

"Of course you remember that there never really was a 'Crush'. Zoloe has practically mastered shape shifting without a transmogrifier gun," Phayees said smugly.

"I'm not an idiot," Ripto growled. "Just get your revenge on me over with so I can go on with my life."

"Oh, no ya' don't buckaroo. It's not that simple. I just don't want to avenge Corky's death, but _every _sheep that has ever been killed by those damn Dragons. I just gotta remember _where _I hid Corky's medallion."

"Corky's _what?_"

But she didn't reply. She began scraping around with her claws where the wall had exploded until a "YES!" was heard.

"Holy dude, I can't believe it's still here!" she exclaimed. "It's just what I need to cast that spell for my ultimate revenge." She snickered and held up her prize triumphantly. It was an odd looking necklace on a heavy chain, with a single, large bronze charm made in the exact shape of a cork. It was a pretty thing to behold, but made in a twisted spirit of hate and evil.

"That 'ultimate revenge' thing sounded like something out of Yu-Gi-Oh," Zola said. "Joey is soooo hot…"

"But why do you need that hunk of junk? Can't you just cast the stupid spell? " Ripto said.

"It's not junk…" Phaydees began to explain, "even though Corky may be dead, his magic is still here in this metal. And this is exactly what I need; this spell can only be used as revenge, and you need something that belongs to the one your avenging, as odd as that . Besides, you need your scepter to cast spells, so I need this right now."

She walked away from the small group and began murmuring to herself. Almost immediately, black fire burst into a circle around her and her murmurs became louder. Cruel black beings arose from the fire with red eyes like pupil-less pools of blood. They spun around her, faster and faster until she exclaimed trance-like, "Enough. Do the work you were awaken for and freeze the wronged ones in eternal darkness."

The spirit things disappeared and the fire ceased to burn. Phaydees, satisfied with the work of her spell, turned around and casually walked over to the group, her head bobbing up and down like a bobble-head dog on the back window ledge of an old Chevy. She said to Zola and Zoloe, "Go alert _his_ Rhynocs to invade the Dragon Realms and all the realms surrounding it. They'll listen to you. Well what are you waiting for? Get going!" She pushed the two goats out of the room.

"Well, well, well, Ripto. What have I in store for you?" She chuckled lightly to herself , put a cold, clammy arm around his shoulder and bent down to his size, for she was about three feet taller than he. As you can imagine, Ripto was very nervous.

"What was that spell you used?" he asked sheepishly.

"Oh that? A Punk Statue Spell. It turns all the inhabitants of The Dragon Realms and all the Realms surrounding it into -what else- punk statues. Plus, I'm sick of all those damn stereotypes. But I have something _much_ worse prepared for you." She smiled and pulled a simple pyramid spike bracelet out of her skirt pocket and snapped it on his wrist.

"What's this for?" he asked. The spikes seemed to shimmer with otherworldly power and the leather looked more like it was made of Dragon hide.

"Well, for one thing, it's enchanted. You can be banished by Corky's medallion. 'Cause if I get defeated, then you will be too. Just in temporary limbo. So I guess I'll see you in hell, if someone stops me." she said happily.

"This insures to be a long fanfiction… Damn you DSI…" Ripto said to himself

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Well, this was the second chapter. Yes, I know this story is really stupid, but I still like it! Please R&R, bucko. ACK!


	3. Gnasty's Got Nothing on This

Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign

Chapter 3: Gnasty's Got Nothing On This

Author's Notes: Oi! I'm here to explain more crap about my story! So anyways, here's some more useless information. What is the Aqua Armada you ask? It's very simple, it's a not-so-secret organization that deals with a lot of investigation, fighting evil and forensic science; I guess you could call it a an alternate universe version of Kids Next Door. There are three different sections (Air, Water and Land) and I'm dealing with the land section in this particular fic. Originally composed of aguamonkies ( a race of super-evolved sea monkeys--that's spelled right) until the majority of the species was killed by a vicious tribe of warrior demon-goats called The Fay, later to be known as A.C.I.D (That explains what Phaydees' name means: "Ruler of Domesticated Farm Animals" ). Now, not only are there only a few aquamonkies, but Dragons, ducks, squirrels, hedgehogs, mice, Cherubs and a number of other odd creatures. (The Water and Air versions of The Aqua Armada are mostly made up of my friends' characters. Most likely I'll get to that later, Bob willing.) P.S.-I'm not making fun of punks, because I am one and so are many of my friends. Power to meee!

Oh and these Cherubs aren't the decapitated head-baby faces with two useless little wings that you see in churches. If you've read "A Wind in the Door" by Madeline L'Engile you'd know that. Except Bea is a _lot _different looking than Proginoskes. Think Doodlebob of Sponge Bob meets Ditto, that morphing blob Pokemon thingy.

"Who are you two, the twins that played the banjo in 'Deliverance?' "-Estelle Ghetty as Sophia in _The Golden Girls_. You'll understand this little quote in a few…

* * *

"Spyro, it's getting late. Shouldn't we've gotten home by now?" Sparx complained. 

"Damn it, Sparx. I don't know all of the Dragon Realms!" Spyro felt kind of bad that he was venting his anger out on his tiny dragonfly friend who could be easily be mistaken for the Coheed and Cambria symbol, but he was too tired to care. "Uh…I think we're uh…lost, Sparx."

"Oh yeah, 'Let's take the shortcut, 'cause I know everything! It won't take long, five hours or until morning, whichever comes first!' " Sparx mimicked his idiotic friend.

The two had used the shortcut through the cemetery and had found an old, ivy-covered, crumbling portal back to the Dragon Realms and used it, but were now in some unrecognizable part of another forest. It was near morning, the sun's first rays of the day streamed gold and pink through the trees. Birds trilled a song picked out especially for the day and fodder romped through tall grasses and exotic flowers. Spyro and Sparx were both getting fed up with the other's attempts in finding a way back home.

"Do you think _you _can do a better job, you-" but Spyro's swearwords were cut off by some of the most infamous banjo notes played in movie history.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! DELIVERANCE!!! RUN AWAAAAY!" Spyro and Sparx screamed in unison. They ran away from the place where they assumed the music was coming from. They weaved gracefully through trees, jumped over rotten, fallen trees and debris and through pricker bushes, just to get away from the horrid music.

"It's getting louder!" Sparx said urgently.

"So run faster, ya stupid---OOF!" the wind was knocked out of Spyro as he collided head-on into some creature. He was similar to a monkey, but had a large green fin on his head and several rings and plugs in his ears. He had a lighting bolt-shaped pattern of fur on his stomach His legs were covered in green scales which allowed him to move in fluid, quick motions, but they looked a lot like pants for they draped over his sneakers.

"Holy mashooghna! Spyro, we've been looking all over for you! Guys, come out! I found him!" the creature said. He seemed to have a goofy nature about himself, but was a sincere creature to be taken seriously.

"You were? There's more like you?" Spyro stammered. He questioned his sanity and wondered if his hunger and fatigue was causing him to see things.

Another creature walked out into the open. She looked a similar to the first creature but had a muscular female build (and obviously had a shirt on) and _huge_ frizzy black hair that would make Fran Dresher look like Sinead O'Connor.

"Hi, I'm Mica," she said happily and stuck out a hand in welcome. Spyro shook it and let go of it quickly and sheepishly. "I guess brainless over here didn't introduce himself, did he? Well, that's Aqua Monkey. Bea should be here any time now…Oh, wait. Here she is."

The strangest creature Spyro had ever seen touched down in front of him and folded its wings. It was a pinkish-purplish-bluish blob with beady eyes, twig-like arms and little red sneakers. It had three antennas on its head, one green, one blue, and one yellow, a pair of feathery wings and a long tongue.

"Spyro, This is Bea. She's a Cherub," Aqua Monkey said.

"Howdy, howdy, howdy! If you catch me I'll give you me pot of gold!" Bea said with a sweeping wave. "Uh, guys, where's Mel- AAAAAH!" A brown and green creature fell out of a tree overhead and landed on Bea. "Your stomach makes a nice landing pad," the creature commented. He was a small brown mouse wearing a pair of camouflage pants. He carried a bow and arrow and for some odd reason, had heavily lined eyelids.

"Holy dude, it's Spyro! Nice to meet ya," the mouse known as Melvin said in a British accent that made Spyro want to coax the singing falsetto out of it. "Uh, should we tell him now?"

"It's better that he knows sooner rather than later," Bea said as she began to unleash a warp spell…

* * *

"I don't get it. Why did you warp us here?" Spyro asked the little Cherub. She had warped the ragtag group to the Professor's Underground "Secret" Laboratory. Everything was the same as it always was: the dirt floors, the occasional technical noises from the large computers and abandoned inventions and projects lay strewn here and there. 

"You'll see soon enough," Melvin said as he opened the door to the main part of the lab, ushered the group in and locked the door behind them with a _click._

There was something very, very wrong. All of Spyro and Sparx's friends were there, but they were frozen in mid-action: Hunter was sitting on a crocheted couch and Bianca was sitting opposite of him on a squashy, overstuffed chair. Elora was trying to coax a caffeine-high Agent 9 down from a large insulation pipe and the Professor was in mid-pour or some dangerous chemical. But there was something else different about them: they were all dressed like punks. Hunter had many tattoos and was wearing baggy bondage pants, and Bianca was wearing a leather bustier, fishnets and heavy white makeup. Elora was similarly clad and her hair was dyed black and there were many earrings in her fox-like ears. Agent 9 had on a pyramid spike choker and an Anti-Flag shirt. The Professor had a mohawk instead of his regular balding hair and was wearing a black lab-coat and a shirt with flaming skulls.

"I wish everyone in this universe dressed like this…But you gotta admit, Phaydees can come up with some cool spells," Aqua Monkey said absentmindedly like he had no voice inside his head to think out what he had to say before he said it.

"Aqua Monkey! We're in the middle of a Realm-wide crisis and that's all you can think of?!" Mica screeched.

"Wow, Gnasty's crystallization spell's got nothing on this," Sparx said.

"Wait a minute, you said someone named 'Phaydees' was involved? Why would he do a sick thing like this?" Spyro exclaimed.

Mica smiled and snorted. "Phaydees isn't a guy, Spyro. She's a girl, an evil cruel malicious goat who rules over this school-type-thingy A.C.I.D. with an iron claw. She's the one who cast this spell, for what we think was revenge for her boyfriend Corky's death."

"But what do I and everyone else have to do with her revenge plots? It's not like _I _killed her boyfriend! This is wonderful; my best friends are frozen, I'm caught up in a revenge/love triangle I didn't even know about, and four complete strangers could be leading me to my impending doom!!" Spyro said. "And how did you figure out all of this stuff anyways?"

"Well, we're supposed to be the Aqua Armada. We fight for a common good against all evil forces and one of our missions was to go and help you. We do a lot of work with investigation, and forensic science, but we also fight battles and have a limited knowlege of magicand science-well, except for Bea over here.But we're gonna help you defeat Phaydees.This is one of our missions. So they sent the cruddiest division they could get--us," Mica said.

"Well, Corky was a sheep, so she just doesn't want revenge for his death, but every other sheep. Unfortunately, some of her best friends were domesticated farm animals.… heh heh. But anyways, Ripto killed Corky. But we don't know why… but would it make you feel any better if we told you that she's keeping Ripto hostage?" Aqua Monkey said meekly.

Spyro and Sparx burst out laughing. "I don't believe it. She's keeping Shorty hostage??" Spyro wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "This is too funny! Phaydees' probably putting Ripto through hell right now…not saying he hasn't been there already,"

"Spyro, this is serious. Your friends could be stuck forever like this (even though someone always says something like that in most 2nd rate fics like this ) You gotta get rid of her! That's the only way reverse the spell!" Melvin said profoundly. He usually didn't say "smart" things like this; Melvin wasn't the brightest bulb in the package.

"So how do I get rid of her? Do I need to collect stuff?" Spyro replied.

"Well, the odd thing is, Phaydees didn't back the magic of her spell with power from gems or dragonflies or Dragon eggs or anything. She must be using some pretty powerful dark magic. But you need something in particular: Corky's medallion. You see, before he died, he imbued all his power into a necklace type thing. You've got to find it, it's the only way to get rid of her. From what we've figured out, it's in Chateau Ripto."

"Right. So let's just warp to Shorty's house and-" but Spyro was cut off.

"It's not that simple. Two reasons: **A:** There _is_ no real portal to Ripto's realm. Remember how tha rip in the fabric of time and space closed up? Thank you. **B:** My teleportation spells aren't worth crap… Cherubs may be one step up from Earth Angels, but we're not all-powerful," Bea sighed. "But I could use a lot of stuff here and maybe power my magic to create a temporary portal. It might take a while but if you guys are willing to wait a bit…"

"I'm willing to wait for anything as long as it's gonna help save my friends," Spyro said

"I'm game," Aqua Monkey said.

"Me too," said Mica.

"Not like I got a choice, do I?" Melvin said.

Meanwhile, while the four sat down and talked…

* * *

"I gotta get out of here…I gotta get out of here…I gotta get out of here…" Ripto paced around his throne room floor and muttered nervously to himself. 

"Aw, shut up. Everyone already thinks you here voices. Fanfics can give evil characters _such _bad reps," Phaydees said. Zola nodded in agreement. Zoloe and she decided to split up and notify the Rhynocs to set out for Avalar and the Dragon Realms. She had gotten back from telling her half, but Zoloe was no where to be seen and it was morning.

"Maybe Zoloe went and got herself killed! One down, two to go…" Ripto said hopefully.

"I'M BAAACK!" a voice screeched. Zoloe stepped proudly into the room, not before accidentally clonking her horned head on the door frame.

"Roxanne Ze'eva Zoloe, where were you?" Phaydees said in a voice that was as sweet as milk chocolate, but dripping with venom.

"ROXANNE?? YOUR NAME'S ROXANNE?!" Ripto burst out laughing. "And all this time I thought your first name was Zoloe, that's it, end of story. But Roxanne Ze'eva Zoloe? Now that's a freaky name," Ripto laughed.

"But 'zoloe' means 'crush' in Old Fay …" Zoloe blushed shamefully.

"I wouldn't be talking, Giovanni Amaducias, " Phaydees smiled evilly at Ripto.

"What's 'Amaducias' mean?" Zola asked.

"Amaducias was a grand duke of Hades who took the form of a unicorn. God, DSI gives out weird names for things she doesn't know," Ripto complained and held his head in his hands.

"Don't feel bad; Phaydees' middle name is 'Dandelion'," Zola admitted.

"Yeah, how did _I_ get stuck with a middle name that's a garden weed?" Phaydees smiled. "but anyways-"

"I wasn't finished!" Zoloe screeched, "so anyways, I heard that Spyro's found out about you, Phay! And he's in cahoots with a couple of aguamonkies! This must be stopped!" she said in a tone of mock-bravery.

"She was never this smart as Crush…" murmured Ripto.

"Well, that's what you can do for not reporting to me the news of that dang Dragon sooner. You can go put the kibosh on him and his little friends…heh heh heh," Phaydees muttered to herself and wrung her hands in thought. "Well, enough of acting like a homicidal maniac."

She muttered something to herself and an axe appeared in her hands. Chanting something truly evil, she planted the axe in the ground and made a slash in it, as if she was to plant something there. Linoleum and ground tore open and flames sprouted up where the axe had struck. She peered down into the dark hole, which seemed to go on forever. "Okie dokie, Zoloe. Hop down that hole."

Zoloe grabbed the axe from her. "Why?"

" 'Cause I said so."

"Why?"

"Because I am your master and you do what I say."

"Why?"

"DSI made us that way."

"Why?"

"SHUT UP!" Phaydees shoved her down the hole, without as much as a scream from Zoloe. She turned around and wiped her hands off. "Zoloe should take care of 'em. Then I can go back to my revenge plots, she smiled wickedly.

"OH NO YA DON'T BUCKO!" more flames suddenly burst out of the pit. Zoloe looked like a lurid creature of nightmares, hovering amid the flames with her scaly tiny wings (for she was born with those wings and they weren't Crush's to begin with), and carrying that axe. She looked pretty threatening, for once.

"I could see that coming," Ripto sighed.

"Aww, c'mon Zoloe," Phaydees thrust out her bottom lip and her normal eyes engulfed with blood-red flames were replaced with glassy, teary eyes, like that of an over-exaggerated chibi character.

Zoloe sniffed. "Fine. I'm determined to die for what I believe in," she put her hand over her heart sarcastically and gave a mock-salute.

"What an idiot," Ripto whispered to himself and shook his head.

* * *

**That chapter was a little longer than the others. Will Zoloe kill Spyro and his newly found friends of the Aqua Armada? Will Ripto regain his composure? Will this story still go on or will I decide to take it down for it's crappiness? If you're one of the few people who's reading this, please review. Thank you.**


	4. Random Singing and Revelations

Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign

Chapter 4: Random Singing and Revelations

Oh, you're still reading this? Thanks. Okay, this chapter explains a lot about Zoloe's a.k.a. Crush's life. It seems a little sad to me; I was thinking about her back story for a couple of days to come up with a good one, so that's why it took so long to update. Especially when I spaced out during dinner and my mom told me to pass the freakin' tomato sauce abut ten million times. That's how deep into fanfictions I can get. Plus, I've had this terrible snotty cold for the past three days, and with the cold came writer's block. {snorts} eh……XX

Phaydees: C'mon guys! Let's cheer up Snotty Shorts over there!

Zola: Oh, oh oh! Is this the part where Zoloe and I skip onto the set singing the opening sequence to "Laverne and Shirley"? Schlemiel, schlimazel…

Zoloe: We're gonna do it _our_ way, yes _our _way! Make all our dreams come true….

{Sighs} R&R please!

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Professor's Lab, Spyro, Sparx, Aqua Monkey, Mica and Melvin were waiting for Bea to create a portal to Ripto's realm. The oddball group was explaining to Spyro and Sparx everything about A.C.I.D that they knew, and stuck bits and pieces of the back story of their homeland. While all this was going on, Bea sang a song that she made up as she went along, mostly made of Old Fay swearwords.

"So you're saying that there never really was a 'Crush' and it's just this Zoloe character?" Sparx

asked.

"Uh huh," Mica said, "she's not as stupid as she looks, kind of like you, Mel."

"Hey!"

"And she's always worked for Phaydees, even though she was in suspended animation for _that _long? Wow," Spyro marveled.

"Hey, guys! The portal's almost finished!" Bea ceased to sing her profane song and proudly announced her news to her company.

"Well, that's good," Aqua Monkey said as he got up and stretched. "I hate all this waiting around while people are in peril, not to mention all the other Dragons."

"I still don't believe that Phaydees magic is that strong to freeze all those Dragons," Spyro

thought worriedly about the occupants of his homeland. "Wait a minute?? If you said that this spell effected the Dragon Realms and all the realms touching it, then how did I escape the spell? And what about _you_ guys? How do I know you're not in league with _her_?" he yelled

threateningly.

"This guy catches on _really _quickly," Melvin muttered to himself.

"Well two things. First: you were so small you escaped the spell, just like how you escaped Gnasty's crystallization spell. Second: Our home realm Philamon, isn't directly linked to the Dragon Realms. Bea had to create another portal to get here when we heard that there was trouble. Why they don't just connect all the damn portals is beyond me," Mica rolled her eyes and looked heavenward.

"Okay, guys just step thought that barrier and I'll power up the portal with my magic," Bea said.

The portal unlike anything Spyro had ever seen before. It looked like a portal you'd find anywhere else, white marble inscribed with ancient runes. But there was something much different about the portal. For one thing, there were large purple satellite dishes on the very top that uttered an occasional bleeping noise and a number of odd-looking antennas. "Do all the portals look like this where you're from?"

"Nope, this one looks so weird because I'm using my magic to power it. That's why those satellite dishes are there to intercept my magic," Bea said. "Now you guys just walk through, and I'll follow once I got this portal powered up. Move it, bucko!" She shoved the rest of the group though the portal.

"Are you gonna be okay, Bea?" Spyro asked.

"Don't worry about me, man. I'll be fine!" Bea said with a wave as her friends walked through and waited under the portal.

Once her friends were safely there, Bea sighed peacefully. Magic really wasn't her bag; she was more of a mix of science and magic, something that generally wasn't accepted in Philamon, unlike the Dragon Realms. But they made an exception for her because she was working in the Aqua Armada. It was either that or get run out of town by an angry, pitchfork-wielding mob. (No references to Panthergirl's story)

She really needed to concentrate. Forcing all her magic to the tips of her stick-like fingers, she muttered a spell. Blinding lasers of blue pulsating light shot out of her hands and into the satellite dish. Evil-looking green and deep purple mist swirled in the empty space in the as her friends disappeared. Keeping her eye on the dish to make sure it didn't falter, Bea stepped through the portal after her friends.

* * *

They didn't end up in Ripto's realm. They appeared to be in some underground dungeon with dirt walls and dirt floors. As far as Spyro could see, there was no entrance and no exit, except for the portal swirling with dark shadows. Sharp spikes as long and as pointy as javelin poles stuck out from the walls threateningly, encrusted with dried blood.

I don't get it, Spyro thought, _we were supposed to be in Ripto's realm…_

"You again??" a loud female voice screeched.

He quickly turned around and the others followed suit, except for Melvin, who was still facing the opposite wall ("I don't get it. Who's talking? Oh, I get it now!")

Zoloe stood before Spyro and his friends. She was more hideous than the description they gave him. She leaned one hand on her axe, which was glowing with dark energy.

"Well, well well. If it ain't the great Spyro again," Zoloe said sarcastically.

"You're a lot uglier in goat form," Sparx spat.

"Let's kick her butt, guys!" Aqua Monkey proclaimed triumphantly as his hands started to glow with white light.

"Oh no you don't, Mr. So-Called Omnipotent!" Mica yanked him back by his tail. "We have to let Spyro and Sparx fight their own fight."

"Awwwwwwwwwwwww," the three others sighed. Reluctantly, they stood back near the wall, but not close enough to get impaled by the spikes.

Spyro and Zoloe stared each other down, as if locked in secret combat within the confines of their minds. Smoke trailed out of Spyro's nostrils angrily. All of a sudden, with a loud screechy battle cry, Zoloe sprang into the air, waving the axe high above her hideous horned head. Spyro was just about to let out a burst of flame right into her face when Mica jumped between the two enemies.

"WAIT! Let's chitchat, Zoloe. Girl stuff," she said meekly.

Zoloe, was frozen in mid-air like a cartoon spoofing of "The Matrix". She dropped down, with an interested look on her face.

"Okay," she said with a smirk

"Mica Chase Corbin, what are you doing?" Aqua Monkey whispered harshly.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," Mica said reassuringly.

Mica walked Zoloe over to a far corner so the two could talk in privacy. The rest were unable to hear what they were saying, no matter how much they strained their ears.

"So, Zoloe. Tell me, why did you decide to work for Phaydees in the first place?" Mica asked calmly and sincerely.

"Well, I thought I could find a better life under someone powerful. Maybe I would I get some respect finally after my whole life," that's when it all came out. Zoloe wept thick, black mascara tears that steamed down her face and plopped onto the dirt. She leaned on Mica for support, who offered a comforting shoulder to lean upon.

"I've always had such a hard life," Zoloe spoke between giant sobs. She told Mica everything: how her mother was a Fay prostitute and was outcast during her childhood because she was deemed "unclean". When she got older, she joined A.C.I.D. in hopes of a better life like so many others had. Although going to the dreaded school was free to all those willing to succumb to a life of evil, she had to pay for room and board by working in a café in Metropolis, earning extra tips by dropping things purposely so when she bent over at a guy's table he'd give an extra tip because he checked out her nice ass. "I hated putting myself to such shame," she sobbed. 'I never had someone else to talk to about this; Ripto and Gulp could never understand. It's a guy thing. And Zola's just too stupid…" She recalled upon how she had mad fun of other students, for she had a small clique of friends. She even brought up how her and her friends had always mad fun of Ripto, which might have just helped him to become the bitter, evil creature he was today. She regretted that when Ripto had made his uprising among the school and wreaked his horrible vengeance upon every soul that had made fun of him, and the others that hardly even knew he existed.

"That's when I transmogrified myself. I'd rather live transmogrified, waiting for Phaydees to return than die," Zoloe admitted.

Mica felt horrible. Her stomach didn't feel very good, like she was getting food poisoning and had menstrual cramps at the same time. All those horrible, nasty things they said about everyone in A.C.I.D., but Zoloe was actually a good person inside, just turned mean and cold by the cruel hand life had dealt her.

"Well, Zoloe, why don't you turn away from all that and join us on the good side. Everyone will me more than happy to have you here, even Aqua Monkey. I mean it," she outstretch a helping hand to the oppressed goat.

Zoloe wiped her nose. "That's okay, Mica. You know what, you're okay. You genuinely care about people. But unfortunately for you, being evil is much too fun!" All of a sudden, the once sappy goat lashed out and slashed Mica's shoulder. She winced as her shirt ripped and blood trickled down her arm. Struggling to her feet, Mica ran off to her friends as Zoloe continued to attempt to slash Mica's back ad snap her spine.

"So I see your little 'Girl Talk' didn't go so well," Aqua Monkey said as he tended to her shoulder.

"I thought you said you knew what your were doing," Melvin said.

"Okay, so my attempt to thwart impending death for a friend didn't work. Bite me," Mica replied as she delicately pushed her torn sleeve back up her shoulder.

Everyone watch as the bloody battle before them unfolded. Zoloe, although accustomed to using a club, was very skilled with an axe like an overly-macabre executioner. Spyro thought she had him more than a couple of times, slashing his forearms more than a teenage angst fic. Spyro was trying his best to keep up with the horned harlot, scorching her face and body with constant atttacks of his flame breath. He rammed her in her exposed stomach; two dots of blood appeared where he aimed his horns.

"And _this,_" Zoloe grunted as she raised her axe and brought it down, "is for kicking my butt at Avalar. And _this _is for- Yes! I finally have you where I want you." Zoloe had caught Spyro by one of the ridges on his back. The axe stuck right through it, and was imbedded in the ground. Spyro could thrash desperately like a fish out of water, but the disabled Dragon couldn't escape. He cringed. Zoloe walked toward him with a maniac gleam in her eyes, hands poised in a strangling motion. Spyro looked so vulnerable, slowly bleeding, but not uttering a sound.

Zoloe smiled wickedly. "And thus ends this chapter of Spyro the Dragon's pitiful life. I hope you enjoy death, Spyro, 'cause it's the only adventure you have left." Her sharp claws, gleaming by torchlight, were about to dig into Spyro's scaly neck.

"Think again, bucko," said Spyro, mimicking the goat's odd accent. Suddenly, Spyro broke free and he jumped into the air triumphantly. Although the spike where the axe had struck and several others were sliced to ribbons and bleeding heavily, he was still ready to fight Zoloe to the death. He aimed his flame and made a direct hit: where it hurts. Zoloe gasped and fell on her rear to the ground. Spyro inhaled heavily, ready to breathe out a fatal burst of fire and brimstone when Mica suddenly jumped between the two enemies again.

"Spyro, please. Don't kill her. She's had a hard enough life without dying an dishonorable death. Let's just go. You wouldn't understand," Mica pleaded with as tears streamed out of her eyes.

"C'mon." Spyro said. He didn't want to leave Zoloe there, but hey. Mica never said she had to help her. Without a second glance, he walked toward his friends and jumped through the portal.

* * *

"What was the deal, Mica? I had her there, and you told me to stop!" Spyro said.

"She doesn't deserve to die. She's had such a hard life," and Mica told them everything Zoloe had told her.

"Jeez," Melvin said. "all those years in A.C.I.D. and I never knew…"

"YOU WENT TO A.C.I.D.??" everyone exclaimed.

"Uh huh…" Melvin said sheepishly. "I thought you knew…" he bit his bottom lip anxiously.

"Oh God, Phaydees is gonna shit herself when she finds out that we almost killed Zoloe," Aqua Monkey said nervously.

"Thanks reinforcing that thought, Aqua Monkey." Bea said with a sigh.

* * *

Ripto: Is it too late to make you feel better? [sighs] [singing] DEAR AMBELLINA, THE PRISE WISHES YOU TO WATCH OVER MEEEEEEE! I FOUGHT THE DECISIONS THAT CALL AND LOST……

Me: ACK! Ripto Claudio Sanchez-afied! [hugs him]

**So was this chapter good? Review and tell me, before I have to put up with anymore of Zola and Zoloe's singing!**


	5. Daring Riptocs and Menstrual Goats

Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign

Chapter 5: Daring Riptocs and Menstrual Goats

Wow, I'd never think I'd publish this story this far…even if that many people aren't reading it, I'm still rather appreciative of the people who are! This part of the story I had to totally rewrite from scratch; the original was _nothing _like this. I know this is more of a filler than anything but on with the story! There's a surprise in this story, let's see if you guys can find it..... (Don't kill me Darkeiya, I wish I was Phaydees too!)

* * *

Darkness……calming, enveloping, all-consuming darkness.

Everything was dark.

Zoloe's eyes flickered open. She was lying on her back and wasn't aware how she got into that position when she was so weak from blood loss. Silently, she looked to her side. Blood was slowly seeping out of her wounds, and her fur was charred black in places. The dirt floor seemed to absorb her blood quickly; there was a reddish-purplish stain where her blood had poured. She wasn't aware that she was crying until the tang of salt reached her parched lips.

Dying's not so bad…Zoloe thought to herself as she groped around for her axe; at least people would know she died trying. But without the knowledge that her enemy had given up….she felt a pang of guilt, knowing that she had failed Phaydees. She just lay there, waiting and ready to meet death when it came to her.

* * *

"Okay, so you wanted to go look for Zoloe. But you didn't have to drag me along!" Ripto growled angrily as he stepped through a hastily made portal after Phaydees and Zoloe. A few nervous-looking Rhynoc medics and another goat one followed him. 

Phaydees shot him a dark look that was self-explanatory and he shut up. The oddball group had gone too look for Zoloe. Phaydees might be evil, but she feels bad for a long time afterward if she causes harm to her friends.

"Are you sure this is where you sent her?" Zola questioned Phaydees. They were in the same place (A bit similar to The Wood Between the Worlds, like in The Chronicles of Narnia.) where Spyro and Zoloe had fought the bitter, bloody battle a few moments earlier. They had yet to find her body; unbeknownst to them, she was in a small, dark corner.

"Are you doubting my dark magic, Zola? I feel kind of bad for yelling at her," payees said uneasily.

"So you're one of those evil dictators that feels bad if she hurts someone she loves, but could care less about committing mass magical murders and putting people under her feet. You poor thing," Ripto said in a tone of mock-concern.

Then, one of the medics shouted and the others ran over to inspect his finds. They had found Zoloe, barely hanging onto life, crying that they had found her. The medic told her to remain laying down.

"Zoloe, I had no idea…" Phaydees said full of sorrow and regret.

"He," Zoloe hacked and coughed a bit. _He didn't want to kill me. Mica…"_

Mica…

Phaydees remembered the name all too well, but shook off her memories in urgency. "Don't just stand there, you moronic milkshakes! Get her back to the castle!" she growled.

The one goat obeyed immediately, but the two Rhynocs looked to Ripto for instructions. Ripto, not knowing what to say, "You heard her. Get moving!" the short wizard barked an order.

They clamored through the portal once more, and Zoloe was brought to the small medical wing of Chateau Ripto. Phaydees paced nervously outside while Zoloe was bandaged and given care.

"Phay, what are you so worried about? Zoloe's gonna be fine, she's been in worse stuff than this," Ripto wasn't trying to console the anxious goat, he was just stating a fact.

"Can you shut the hell up for about five minutes?! Unlike _you _I actually worry about my friends," Phaydees replied harshly.

A few hours later (and several bottles of Mountain Dew drunk by Phaydees, Ripto pointed out later) they were allowed to see Zoloe. Phaydees wouldn't let anyone else in, even though Zola was out somewhere and Ripto could've cared less. She was the only one.

She stepped into the medical wing. Everything was dark, but an eerie white glow surrounded the pathway so Phaydees could find her way to Zoloe's room. _I don't remember the medical wing being this creppy,_ Phaydees thought ot herself as she remembered the days when she used to live in its very walls. Finally, the paranoid goat found her room. With a click, she opened the door. It was dark in her room too. Zoloe looked small and pale, sunk against the many pillows at her head. A petite Rhynoc nurse dressed in white was checking her pulse and nearly dropped her clipboard in fright when she noticed Phaydees at the door. She promptly left; as nervous as she was to get out of there, her white Reeboks barely made a sound.

Zoloe's eyes were closed. Her arms were bandaged and her face was scorched and hardly recognizable. She looked pretty peaceful as she breathed harshly. An IV unit slowly _dripped, dripped dripped_ and broke the silence. Suddenly, her eyes flickered open and she noticed Phaydees.

"Gawd, Zoloe. I'm sorry. If I knew that scaled rat was going to be that hard to fight I would've went myself," Phaydees admitted

"Spyro…..Spyro wouldn't kill…..Mica said….my life….too hard. Jesus," Zoloe managed to say.

"Zoloe, are you going to die?" Phaydees asked meekly.

"Rhynoc medics…..spells….dammit….I hope not," Zoloe coughed.

Phaydees sighed. Zoloe was going to be all right. She smiled and stayed with her friend a little longer before she left. Her heart could barely take it, but she didn't want anyone to see her cry. She had to be strong, for Corky's sake. She would never carry out her plans for revenge if she just broke down and cried.

She opened the doors to get out of the medical wing and clomped out with heavy steps from her boots. Ripto was waiting for her there, and she certainly didn't want to let _him_ see her cry.

"So how's Zoloe, you sad sack?" Ripto asked unconcerned.

"Not so good," Phaydees felt her throat tighten. They started to walk down the hall.

"Well don't start crying. You female villains are so emotional: 'Yes my name's Phaydees and I control the world because of my uterus!' That one of the reasons why I'm happy that I don't have a girlfriend. I don't know how you and Corky-aaaah!" Ripto ceased to rant. Phaydees had promptly slapped him in the face. His green eyes saw stars and his head was pounding. Phyadees threw him against the wall, smashing an antique vase and tilting a portrait at an odd angle. Dazed, Ripto slumped against the wall and opened his eyes. "What was that for?" he yelled.

"You bash me, so I bash you-against the wall. Care to say anything else, Short Stuff?" she growled darkly and put up her fists prepared to fight back.

"Yeah I do." He grabbed her arm and promptly kissed her. He had no idea what made him do that; it was like some outside force was controlling the small Riptoc. Maybe his feelings for Phaydees back when he was younger were trying to break free. But Ripto loved no one. What was he going to do?

Phaydees was enraged. Her large rectangular eyes lit up with flames burning so bright and furiously it gave the impression that her entire face was a giant stained glass window. Balls of shadowflame appeared at her hands and she let out a snort and a goatish bleat of rage. "YOU!!! Satanic Riptoc! Filth! Spawn of demons! By-product of a unicorn and Rhynoc orgy!" she didn't know what else to say. "Just get out of here. I don't want to look at you."

Ripto was more than happy to do so.

* * *

I know this chapter was short. Listening to Sarah McLaclan just made me want to write it. Even _if_ "Building a Mystery" reminds me of Ripto. R&R please. Now I know what that picture I drew goes along with! Thank God for Canadian singer/songwriters!

Mica: OH! Can I sing "Adia"? Pleeeeease!

Me: ENOUGH SINGING, DAMMIT!


	6. Like a Centpocalypse

Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign

Chapter 6: Like a Centpocalypse

Yay! The sixth chapter! I'm so proud of myself: "I'm a big kid now!" This is the part where my friend's character Puri finally comes into play, but this isn't her main part. I won't say anything about her except she's also a purple dragon, but she doesn't look like Spyro. My friend barely knew who Spyro was until about six months ago. I'll post Puri's fansite in my user lookup. Puri is copyright Purgon Draple a.k.a. Kathy.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson had the transmogrifier waaaaay before Neopets, and I am so pissed at the fact that that Neopets stole that! Grrr….

* * *

"I still say that was a total waste of time! We went off to defeat Zoloe, and Spyro didn't even kill her!" Sparx exclaimed.

"You guys would never understand, I already explained it to you. How can you all be so insensitive?" Mica said. "Maybe it's time I told you something….no. I've never told anyone this."

"Told us what?" Aqua Monkey turned his head toward his friend.

"No. I would get kicked out of the Aqua Armada, and I love it here," Mica said firmly.

"Aw, c'mon Mica. Your secret's safe with us," Melvin said.

"Well…" Mica tented her hands nervously, as if everyone would rush upon her to kill her at the first thing she said. "I'm not a real aguamonkie." She clamped her hand over her mouth as if she had just repeated a filthy swearword.

"So what's that supposed to mean?" Spyro said.

"Erm….well….I was genetically altered. By Phaydees," she bit her nails.

"WHAT?" everyone screeched.

"And I thought you'd spaz when I said I used to be in A.C.I.D." Melvin said semi-happily.

"Well, after years of extensive crossbreeding experiments on a dying species, Phaydees' scientists revived a new species after they almost killed off all of the aguamonkies. And that new creature was me. It's a little confusing, sometimes I don't even get myself. I grew up in those very castle walls, and Phaydees looked after me like she was my mother. I know she only looks twenty-five-ish, but I don't know what age she really is. She could be twenty eight or could've alive for almost three millennia for all I know. She was in suspended animation for about five years. And she's been ruler of the Fay or otherwise known as A.C.I.D. for a long time. And the weird thing is, her parents are still alive."

Everyone looked at her like she had three heads, which wasn't anything new in Avalar, but they still couldn't believe her.

"Prove it," Bea said.

Mica showed them her thumb. It had a tiny blue star which could've been mistaken for a tattoo or a freckle.

"That doesn't prove anything. You could've had and accident with a Sharpie and the fumes might've have gotten to you. Maybe you should go lie down," Spyro suggested.

Mica sighed. "Okay, Aqua Monkey. Hit me with your best shot."

"Now Mica, I know you're a fan of Pat Benetar, but now's not the time for karaoke," Aqua Monkey said.

"No seriously. Kick me in the crotch. Don't hold back; give it all you got," Mica said frustrated.

Aqua Monkey shrugged and aimed his foot in the forbidden zone. Mica didn't even flinch.

"Is that all you got?" she rolled her eyes and went over to a drawer in one of the desks in the

Professor's lab. She groped around in the drawer for a few moments until she found what she was looking for: a sharp knife used for dissecting things. Without flinching, she plunged it through her arm amid gasps from the others. "See? It doesn't hurt. Look," she showed them her arm after she pulled the knife out and deposited it in a trash can labeled "Hazardous Waste" Her wound had healed by itself, only a smooth pale scar remained.

"You, you really are a….." Aqua Monkey managed to say. Mica shook her head to say she understood.

"Oh wait. I'm getting a ring," Mica said and she picked up her cell phone. "Yo, Puri. What's up? Holy, holy holy holy holy crap," Mica said in a disbelieving tribute to Strong Bad. "Are you absolutely sure?…. We'll work it out somehow, don't worry." she sighed. "Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Who's Puri? And what did she want?" Spyro asked.

"Puri's part of the Water division of the Aqua Armada," Aqua Monkey admitted. "She goes undercover a lot to dig up dirt on other evil organizations bent on our destruction. And from Mica's conversation with Puri, she wasn't calling us to come over for swimming and eggplant antipasto. What'd she say, Mica?" said Aqua Monkey.

"Phaydees' has a transmogrifier gun," Mica slumped into a chair and started muttering to herself.

"Is that some sort of obscured disease? Halleluiah, praise the dragon gods!" Sparx said jubilantly.

"No Sparx. A transmogrifier gun is a type of laser that turns something into something else. Even I know that," Spyro shook his head.

"It's not that simple. How did Phaydees get her claws on one so fast? Zoloe was dying! And DSI better not be making this into a Calvin and Hobbes or Neopets crossover, " Melvin spat.

"Puri didn't say. Gawd, that Dragon leaves out details," admitted Mica.

"Puri's a Dragon?" Spyro asked.

"A purple one to be exact. But she wouldn't be interested in you, she's got her hands full with Basrat," Mica said.

"That wasn't what I was asking," Spyro rolled his eyes.

"A transmogrifier gun?" asked Bea, "hey, I know where one of those is!"

"Not now, Bea." Mica said, "Now where are we going to get a transmogrifier gun?"

"Oh Oh Oh! Me! Me! Me! ME!" Bea jumped into the air and waved her arm like an overly-enthusiastic school child.

"Bea, we're trying to think," Melvin said through gritted teeth.

"I KNOW WHERE A TRANSMOGRIFIER GUN IS!!!! THE CHERUBIC DISTRIC OF PHILAMON!! PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEE!" Bea screamed. She panted and her long tongue coated in lethal saliva protruded out of her mouth.

"Okay Bea. Where did you say it was?" Melvin smiled sweetly.

The small Cherub screwed up her face in frustration. "The Cherubic district of Philamon. I can take you there, none of you have ever been there. You aren't allowed to be there in the first place unless you're a Cherub, but I think I can pull a few strings. We can just go back to the portal in the woods when we found you Spyro and Sparx and take it from there."

"Good idea, Bea," Mica gave Bea a thumbs-up, Justin Hawkins of The Darkness style.

* * *

And so, Spyro, Sparx and their odd friends went back to the forest in the Dragon Worlds where all of this began. Luckily, the portal was still there. 

"Good thing too," said Mica ." I thought it would've closed up by now."

"But portals just don't randomly close up like that," Spyro said.

"Temporary ones do. Temporary portals close up very quickly, as to prevent large quantities of people from immigrating from one realm to another. Time will only tell when this one closes up and Phaydees might even have all the Portals in the remote area monitored," Bea sighed.

"Why don't you go in first, Spyro and Sparx? That way, if the rest of us don't make it, you can always ask around. Philamonians are very friendly," Melvin said.

"Okay," Spyro said awkwardly. "C'mon Sparx," he told his dragonfly friend as the two walked thought the portal.

* * *

Spyro felt a slight tingling sensation as he walked through the portal and abruptly ended up on the other side. It looked nothing like what he had expected. The first thing he noticed was the fluorescent orange grass. Spyro looked heavenward. The sky was as purple as wild irises. Green stars shone brightly and blue light poured over the land from Philamon's twin suns. There were black hills in the distance, and that's where Spyro found out where the music was coming from. Light blue creatures that looked similar to centaurs were happily singing as they flitted among the clouds on rainbow wings that shone in the sunlight. But they couldn't have been centaurs; their faces were much too wise looking and brave, but without a trace of arrogance. The fluorescent orange grass swayed in time to the music of the centaur-like creatures like a sea of macaroni. 

"This is one weird place," Sparx commented.

"LOOK OUT!" a voice screamed. Melvin violently pushed the amazed Dragon and his friend out of the way.

"What did you do that for?" Spyro asked. He sat up and rubbed his head between his two golden horns. He'd have a goose egg there in the morning for sure.

"Good thing Melvin saved you there. You could have never seen that wave of babies coming." Mica said perilously.

"Wave of….babies?" Spyro asked in disbelief. Sure enough, a wave of bald heads and diapers had just missed them and were now violently sweeping through the peaceful meadow.

"Shouldn't we do something?" asked Sparx.

"No, that happens a lot. They don't really cause that much harm; they don't even leave a trail of baby poop or strained peas," Aqua Monkey said reassuringly.

"Shouldn't we get back to the transmogrifier?" Mica asked.

"Oh yeah," Bea said. "Okay guys, do you see that temple-like structure in the distance?"

Spyro squinted. On top of one of the black hills stood a structure that looked like some sort of Aztec temple meets a laboratory. All of a sudden, one of the centaur-creatures blocked Spyro's view of it.

"What are those things in the first place?" Spyro asked.

"Oh those? Centpocalypse. They're really nice and they love singing," Mica said.

"What are they singing now?" Sparx asked.

"Hell's bells!" Bea exclaimed.

"No really."

"No, Bea's serious. They really are singing _Hell's Bells_. I would know," Melvin said. "So where do we go from here?"

" '_I'm feelin' it! Fate fell short this time, smile…' _OOF!" Mica promptly kicked Aqua Monkey in the shins.

"I don't know why you haven't gotten kicked out of the Aqua Armada yet, Aqua Monkey. You're always goofing off." Bea said. "But _anyways_, that temple is the Cherubic Distric of Philamon. They have a transmogrifier there, and I know exactly where it is."

"How's that?" Spyro asked. But his question went unanswered.

"It's about a two week journey there," Bea said, "But we really don't need to pack anything. I mean, it's not like we can, right? Eh, the Forest Subliminal will take care of all stuff. That's where we'll be traveling through. Let's just set off." she pointed to a wood in the distance.

So they walked through the strange looking woods, with Bea leading the way. The odd thing about the forest was that all the trees, grasses and plants were varying shades of gray. They were so odd looking that Melvin almost walked into one once, thinking it would disappear when he did, like morning mist.

"So how are we supposed to eat in this forest?" he asked.

Bea pointed to a type of fruit growing off a tree. The fruit shone like opals, and each was about the size of an egg. Bea gave the tree a violent kick with her large foot, and several pieces fell to the ground with a gentle thud.

"Eat this. It taste bad, but it has nutritional value,"

"Like Zone bars?" Melvin asked stupidly. They ate the fruit and kept walking. Aqua Monkey told Spyro and Sparx more about their homeland. But it was getting dark soon and Spyro only answered his questions half-heartedly. It was getting dark soon, and he wondered where they were going to rest for the night.

"You're concerned about lodging for the night, aren't you, Spyro. I could tell something was irking you,' Mica said concerned. "Bea?"

Quickly, Bea shimmied up a tree. Silvered leaved rained down one by one like a filigree waterfall. Violently, she shook the tree as she hummed silently to herself. Then she climbed down. She shook a good size-pile of leaves down from the tree, enough for a small Dragon to lay upon. Afterward, she thanked the tree, who surprisingly, in return, shook her twig-like hand and replied plainly, "You're welcome."

"Go ahead, Spyro," the small angelic creature motioned to him to lay down. And he did. The leaves were quite comfortable. Bea did the same for the others and herself. Then Spyro started a fire. They sat around the fire and talked casually.

"So, Bea. What's the whole deal with this Cherubic District thing? Why can only Cherubs be there?" Spyro asked.

"Well, for some reason beyond me, Cherubs think they're better than everyone else. Okay, so we're one up on Earth Angels, whoop-de-freakin' do. That doesn't make you better. The reason that Cherubs are only allowed there is because anyone who's brave enough to make it through Forest Subliminal, is considered 'worthy'. That's why I'm taking you guys this way. There are a lot of dangers in this god-forsaken forest, we just haven't- awww look! A cute little badger!" Bea squealed. She immediately walked up to the furry creature and stroked it under its chin. Immediately, it hissed at her. Surprisingly, it had a snake for a tongue and it's sharp fangs appeared when it hissed.

"SNAKE!!!" Bea screamed and jumped into Aqua Monkey's open arms.

"Too close for comfort, Bea. That's all I can say," he sighed as he put out the fire. After that, everyone agreed to go to sleep for the night. They all took up different spots in the clearing and settled down. In the next five minutes, Aqua Monkey started to snore loudly. Mica shivered, arose from her spot, and socked him in the back.

Spyro sighed. Bea said there were a lot of dangers here, even thought Philamon seemed like an overall peaceful realm. Would he ever make his way out of the forest? And what good would the transmogrifer do once they got it, if indeed they did find it. Maybe his life would be easier if he was being held captive by Phaydees, no wait, then nobody would be able to stop her from wreaking her horrible vengeance over everything he had ever known and loved. Spyro didn't feel like sleeping, but gradually, he sunk into an uneasy, restless sleep.

Freaky huh? Read the next chapter to find out what misery Ripto's going through right now. R&R please.


	7. Transmogrification Troubles

Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign

Chapter 7: Transmogrification Troubles

This chapter is the probably the weirdest one in the entire story. It bears no similarities to Cocho (a.k.a. CK Dragon)'s "Going Beyond", but I'll use the same name system as her Phayees(Ripto) is Ripto and Ripto(Phaydees) is Phaydees, with all due respect.

The _original _transmogrifier (not the Neopets one) © Bill Watterson.

* * *

Ripto was absolutely miserable. He had never felt this way before. Being stuck in a castle with the people he hated the most wasn't necessarily a picnic to him. Phaydees certainly livened up the place, with her whimsical habits, cooking skills, and overall angry demeanor, not to mention the fact that she redecorated the entire castle so it looked more like a mix of the Addam's mansion meets Castle Bam. One thing was, Phaydees was constantly singing. Whether she was tearing down the corridors at four in the morning, chanting "Love Roller Coaster" and waking up an aggravated, sleepy-eyed Ripto, or could be heard in her room three floors up, happily head banging to Siouxie and the Banshees, Phyadees loved the sound of her own voice. She was also a great cook. Although Ripto wouldn't touch her cooking, with paranoid thoughts that it was laced with poison, everyone else loved it, especially Gulp. Phaydees wasn't going to resort to physically torturing him -much. She knew the exact things that would annoy the short wizard and irk him out of his thick skull. And she absolutely loved it. She even went as far as to force him to go shopping with her, much to his dismay. Hour after hour Phaydees dragged the small riptoc through Hot Topic, Wet Seal, Angry Young and Poor and a number of other stores Ripto didn't have the patience to learn the names of. Sitting in 'boyfriend chairs' as Phaydees called them, and carrying her purchases was about more than he could take.

But there still was the matter of that impulsive kiss. What had made Ripto do that? He pondered hour after hour, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. It was as if some outside force beyond h control had made him do that. Was he actually beginning to love her again? He dared not even to think about it. It was obvious that she hated him, and he felt the same way, but he _did _used to like her…..but that was in A.C.I.D. and Ripto tried his best to block those horrible memories out of his mind. Besides, Corky was the one she loved, even if he was dead. Ripto preferred to keep his emotions to himself, none of which showed feelings toward Phaydees. If any, they were ones of extreme hatred and anger.

One day, Ripto was recovering from being pummeled by Zoloe (who had made a full recovery) in the stomach five minutes earlier, when he heard a loud, triumphant scream from one of the laboratories. He walked over to see what was happening, trailed by an equally curious Zoloe. Phaydees 'laboratory' was actually a room full of computers and dangerous, evil-smelling chemicals. Shelves lined with spell books containing ancient knowledge and forgotten languages adorned the walls. Two cages containing nothing but skeletons hung from the ceiling, frozen forever in a position of anguish. He had no idea why they were there; maybe they were the remains of experiments gone wrong.

"I fixed it!" Phaydees exclaimed proudly. She ran in circles around a laboratory table happily while she waved something about her head. If he wasn't careful, she would trip on her own skirt.

"What?" Ripto asked dully. He wasn't as thrilled she was.

"This transmogrifier. It's the only thing I brought with me into suspended animation, well, apart from Zola," Phaydees said quickly. Zola nodded her oddly-shaped head.

"Well, what about Zoloe? You said she was an expert at transmogrification," Ripto asked, hoping that Phaydees would find a fault in her plan.

"Oh her? She's been in and out of so many transmogrified bodies that she's learned how to manually, without a transmogrifier," replied Phaydees.

"So how's this thingy work?" Zola asked. She snatched the small laser-like gun from Phaydees hand and started pressing random buttons. Sparks flew from its depths and blue light engulfed the gun and illuminated Zola's hands. Suddenly, two beams of light shot out of opposite ends of the transmogrifier, one red and one blue. The blue one hit Phaydees in her exposed stomach, causing her knees to buckle and collapse. The red one hit Ripto in the face. He slammed against the wall.

"Uh….." Phaydees let out a moan of anguish in a voice unlike her own. "Jesus….what happened…" her voice tapered off and she clamped a claw over her mouth and looked down at her body. "Holy crap….ACK! I'M PHAYDEES!!!"

"But that's impossible, I'm right here….AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Phaydees screamed in Ripto's voice. "This is all your fault Phaydees! By turning me into you, you've found the ultimate torture…wearing a thong." Phaydees cringed. It wasn't possible; somehow the two villains had switched bodies, that's why their voices switched. Ripto was now Phaydees and she was in his body.

"Well this is interesting, I didn't put on underwear this morning," Ripto(Phaydees) replied with an evil smile on her face.

Phaydees(Ripto) turned deathly pale and cringed. He rushed upon Zola, and grabbed her buy the throat and shook her violently, shouting out random swears and insults such as "How would you like all the blood drained from your sorry body?!!" and "You're gonna get your hooves rippedso all you have to walk on are bloody stumps!"

Ripto(Phaydees) didn't try to stop him either; she looked more interested than earnest to help her friend. She wanted to watch him suffer as he ran around frantically screaming, with his eyes lit up with flames.

"THAT'S IT!!!! I'VE HAD ABOUT AS MUCH AS I CAN TAKE; I WILL KILL YOU ALL! Starting with that thing…" Phaydees(Ripto) advanced with demon speed upon the transmogrifier, balls of shadowfire in his hands, ready to obliterate the laser which caused him to snap. Immediately, he destroyed it. This was the kind of power he had always longed for. The same effect as the last one happened, two lasers shot out of either ends of the transmogrifer. One hit Ripto(Phaydes), who luckily, braced herself and stood her ground, who let out nothing more than a slight startling scream as her essence was replaced from it's current resting place into her real body. The real Ripto however, was thrown up into the air and forced backwards, through bottles of noxious chemicals, cutting his skin and stinging the wounds. Upon hitting a wall, he collapsed. All of a sudden, he got up, muttered a healing spell to ease the pain, and hugged himself. "I'm me again!" the real Phaydees proclaimed happily.

"Now as for you, Zola…" Phaydees said as she reached for the transmogrifier and muttered a spell at the same time. A ray of pulsating green light shot from her hands and hit Zola in the shoulder. She was unable to move; her arms and legs were bound to her sides, but she was not unconscious.

"Walk," Phaydees commanded with a hint of force in her voice. Zola arose and walked stiffly. Phyaydees smiled as she led the goat with her spell to a small underground dungeon. Little did she know about Ripto, lurking in a dark corner, plotting exactly what he said he was going to do….

The short wizard walked down the halls of his chateau until he found what he was looking for. There was Gulp, casually talking with Zoloe. He ushered a shifty eyed Zoloe away at scepter-point, for he needed to talk to Gulp. Ripto just needed someone to listen to his scheme.

"Gulp, tonight I'm going to kill Phaydes," Ripto said as slumped against a wall. He sounded sort of relieved at the fact.

"Why?" Gulp asked.

"Personally, she's been the bane of my existence ever since all of this started. And I plan on doing what I should've done a long time ago," he stated plainly.

"Aw, c'mon bossman. I thought she like you?" Gulp asked.

"Her?" Ripto snorted. "I show no affection for that goat whatsoever."

"She's everything you're not. Smart, tall, powerful…" Gulp's list went on.

Ripto rolled his green eyes and continued "But first, there's somebody I want you to dispose of…"

* * *

Okay, this chapter was sort of a filler (sort of?!); I have writer's block again now that school starts on Wednesday. I'll get in to the transmogrifier quest in Philamon in the next chapter, which I couldn't really put in here…[runs off to get more apple juice]


	8. The Transfiguration of Aqua Monkey

Spyro: A.C.I.D Reign

Chapter 8: The Transfiguration of Aqua Monkey

Inspired by Eternal Silence's "Angel Wings" and "The Last Vampire: 4"

Puri © Purp1e Dragon or herself.

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Finally after three weeks, Spyro and his friends made it out of the Forest Subliminal. It was an interesting experience for Spyro: sleeping under the stars and the strange unrecognizable Philamonian constellations, being perused by walking blue clawed walking fire hydrants, slaying slugs the size of the Chrysler Building and encountering the different odd residents that made up the strange realm of Philamon. Spyro was surprised; they didn't encounter as many dangers as Bea said that they would have had. He was quite shocked at her answer from this also.

"Guess the spirits must be quiet these days," she told him. Spyro didn't understand what she meant.

Finally one night, when the purple sky was studded with gleaming stars, the they made it to the fortress-like structure Bea had pointed out. It was quite large and appeared to be made out of mud brick, and had intricate patterns and ancient spells laid upon it long ago. A large rotting wooden door that was the only barrier between the fortress and the rest of the world.

"That's it," Bea proclaimed.

"Don't they close up the fortress at night, though?" Mica asked.

"You'll see," Bea said with an air of mystery about her words.

Bea walked up to the rotting fortress door. Looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was watching, she whispered something to herself. Her friends looked onward as they marveled at what she was doing. Bea hadn't had to enter this fortress since her brother's trial……

The door opened with a loud creak. Bea smiled slightly, pleased at her efforts. Slowly, she shuffled into the doorway, a chilling, silencing air filled the air around them. Quietly ushering the others in, she recited the same words she said previously, only backwards. The door silently closed.

"That's creepy," Melvin whispered. "So anyways, don't people live here?"

Bea replied, "Only a few Cherubs who still insist that they are the ultimate species live here. My brother was one of them…" her voice trailed off.

At once they got a good look around the place. It looked like a sort of village and looked a lot bigger than it did from the outside. Spyro had no idea that behind this fortress' walls were elegant buildings carved out of white marble, streets paved with platinum, and a peaceful fountain of a Cherub reaching toward the sky, the quiet gurgling of the fountain breaking the silence of the night. Aqua Monkey sighed. He remember the exact where Bea's brother was executed, and they have to go through it in order to get the transmogrifier. The last of the Cherubs who thought that they were superior beings to the rest of the Philamonians were asleep in their beds, unaware of what was going on outside.

"Hurry up, now," Aqua Monkey whispered.

With heavy steps, he led the way. Aqua Monkey knew how Bea could hardly take walking through the very halls her brother spent her last hours in; he could tell that she was ready to break down any second. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes were misty and she didn't walk with the normal spring in her step as she always did. They all wondered if she was emotionally okay. Even if Bea was the most sane of the Aqua Armada, Bea kept a lot of secrets behind her normally cheery attitude.

They tiptoed down the creepy halls of the fortress. Eerie portraits whose eyes seemed to shift as they walked along decked the maroon painted walls. Dark creatures seemed to lurk in every forbidding corner. Melvin bit his lip out of apprehension and a drop of red blood shone on his lips and dripped on the marble floor. Shadows played across their faces and azure moonlight poured in through the open windows. Spyro was bathed in the neon blue glow, making his normal scales turn purple. His claws clacked on the stones inlaid with Cherubic magic and secret spells.

"Where exactly are we going?" He asked.

Aqua Monkey replied, "Just a little bit farther."

The hallway came to an abrupt halt. All of a sudden, just like that, it ended. There was just a bare wall with maroon and black wallpaper in a pattern of lace. Melvin put a paw up to the wall and loudly proclaimed, "It stopped, man."

Aqua Monkey, annoyed by Melvin's stupidity, laid one of his large hands with long fingers on the wall. The wall seemed to dissolve away before them. They slowly stepped over the now black and scorched liquefied wall.

"How did you do that?" Mica asked.

"Lucky guess," Aqua Monkey shrugged his shoulders and gingerly walked through the wreckage. The others followed.

They ended up in a dark room. An eerie glow from an unknown source seemed to hover in the air and illuminate the darkness. The room looked like a sort of library; except the shelves weren't lined with books, they were filed with jars of different sizes and shapes. That was where the glow came from.

"What _is _this place?" Melvin asked nobody in particular. Nobody answered his question anyway; the mysterious air about the room perplexed them. He walked up to one of the jars and picked it up. It looked like an ordinary jar, except instead it appeared to be carved out of a single diamond. A rainbow of colors swirled around in the center of the jar like a multihued hurricane, and turned black as a star night when Melvin touched it. Two pinpricks of red fire appeared in the center of the black center.

Bea's beady black eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw Melvin with the jar. She ran (if you can say that a Cherub can run with such short legs) quickly over to him and snatched the jar out of his hands and with great reverence delicately placed it back on the shelf.

"What's the deal?" Melvin asked.

Bea breathed slowly and silently. "Those jars are sacred. They contain the souls of all the evil Cherubs since the beginning of time. If one of there jars is broken, all of Philamon would be shrouded in the dark spirit of that specific Cherub. Havoc would be spread throughout the entire realm." The small pink Cherub had a bleak look on her face.

"That's what you meant about 'The spirits are quiet tonight'," Spyro said

"Bea…" Aqua Monkey's voice trailed off for a second. "Is your brother in here?"

Bea shot a small look of despair toward her friends and beckoned with her claw-like fingers. They followed her down a row of shelves until she made an abrupt halt and stared at one of the jars. It was labeled in the language of Cherubs, which Bea understood. She closed her eyes and seemed to hold back some great emotion as she thought about her brother's soul, trapped forever in that jar before her. It was a swirl of black and white, the colors of Beakiss. In her mind, she could almost reach out and touch all of the childhood memories they shared together. She almost could hear his chilling voice beckon to her, but it might've been one of the illusions of the night…

Bea swallowed back her tears and the lump in her throat. "Enough of that, c'mon." she said as she blinked back huge, pearly Cherub tears.

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After that little episode, they left. Aqua Monkey found out how to get out of the Jar Room the exact way that they came, he laid a hand on the wall opposite to where they entered and it melted away. Bea didn't understand how he was able to do that, when only angelic creatures could. Aqua Monkey couldn't explain it; when Spyro asked him about it, he said he didn't want to talk about it.

Silently they tiptoed through the corridors. There were numerous doors behind which the transmogrifier. Spyro wanted to explore them all, but they didn't have time. Dawn was approaching fast and soon the Chreubs of the fortress would awaken soon and they needed a transmogrifier. So they hurried along toward the end of the vast, airy halls until they came to another large mahogany door, one that was carved intricately with an ancient Cherubic battle scene which depicted a rather large Cherub fighting a humanoid creature with many different types of wings: fairy wings, feathery angel wings, bat wings, rainbow parrot-like wings and many other different types. Spyro stared in awe at it.

"Earth Angels," Aqua Monkey stated plainly. "One of the species that the Cherubs have killed off because of their 'superiority to them'. he had a tone of apprehension to his voice.

"Well, don't just stand there," Mica broke the silence. "Open it, already."

Sweating, Spyro reached out an unsteady claw to the diamond-encrusted doorknob and turned it. It abruptly swung open with a loud creak. Aqua Monkey ushered the group in and looking out the door to make sure nobody was watching. Something in the darkness stirred. He closed it with a heavy sigh and wandering eyes.

It was dark in the Transmogrifier Room. The entire room had a sort of air about it; it made you want to be completely silent because of all the magic present there. They were expecting a sort of science lab similar to the Professor's lab, but instead, it was a place where great magic took place. This was truly the oldest section of the fortress; the yellowing mud-brick walls around them were crumbling and there were dirt floors. There were several tables against them, holding magic relics of great power: diamond-like crystals set into clay tablets that had long lost languages inscribed on them, great orbs of glass with swirls of rainbow colors in the very center, two skulls that no one could identify had candles that burned out purple flames were placed upon their bleached white heads. There were several other objects that Spyro couldn't recognize. But at the very center of the room, was a large, gold, octagonal pedestal with writing inscribed on its sides. A single beam of green light shone upon a glass container which held a ray gun like object -the transmogrifier.

"I SEE IT, I SEE IT, GUYS!!" Melvin screamed aloud. Mica clamped a large hand over the anxious mouse's mouth.

"Holy crap, Mel. Do you just _want _to get us all killed?" Mica hissed.

"It would make Phaydees's job a lot easier," Aqua Monkey added.

"Whose side are you on, anyways?" Sparx replied loudly with an enraged buzz.

Bea rolled her eyes and whispered to Spyro, "Reach out and get it. This is what we came for! Go and get it, Spyro!" she pushed him with her twig-like clawed hands.

Spyro inched toward the monument. Slowly and carefully, he reached out a claw to lift up the glass and retrieve his prize. Suddenly, a jolt of electricity surged through his entire body. Every scale was on fire. He reared back, and fell to the floor with a bang.

"Ten thousand volts, give or take," Aqua Monkey stated plainly. "I'll get it." He announced. And with great ease he lifted up the glass, penetrated the green light and retrieved the transmogrifier.

"How'd he do…" Bea managed to stutter. "Only angelic creatures can do that."

"Mica's not the only one with skeletons in her closet, guys. I think it's time I started a long story…" his voice wavered off for a minute as he handed Spyro the transmogrifier. It did indeed look like a ray guy, except crafted by Cherubs. It appeared to be cut out of a single emerald and glowed with powerful magic.

Aqua Monkey sighed to himself and muttered under his breath. He started to glow with radiant light from an unknown source. He continued speaking in an unknown tongue, and his feet were no longer touching the ground. Glowing brighter and brighter, he let out a yell of anguish as something burst forth from his back: all different types of wings. Bat wings, fairy wings of the Prise, angel wings like Bea's, Dragon wings, hawk wings, and others. No longer was clothed in nothing but the pants-like scales that adorned his legs, but he wore a long white robe with gold trim. But there was something wrong with the robe, it was stained with blood on the edges. There was a sword in a belt around his chest. He was breathing heavily as he just hovered there, his finned glowing head hung in shame.

The others were flabbergasted. Spyro's eyes were large and disbelieving, and Bea's mouth hung open in shock. Mica managed to whisper, "Aqua Monkey, you're drop dead _gorgeous_," before she fell into Spyro's open arms. Melvin, on the other hand, was kneeling. Tears were streaming down his face; the little mouse felt he was unworthy of being in the presence of such a divine perpetual being.

"No Mel, not to me. Never to me. Get up you moron," Aqua Monkey stretched out a hand.

"Aqua Monkey-" but Spyro was cut off.

"Naramon, please." Aqua Monkey inquired.

"Naramon," Bea seemed to test the word out on her tongue, curious about the way it sounded. "That means 'Living in sin' in Cherubic."

"Before you start, where's your halo?" Mica asked.

Aqua Monkey took his halo out of a pocket in his robe and placed it upon his head, where it hovered.

"Naramon, your halo. It's dim." Sparx pointed out.

"That's why your robe is bloodstained and your halo is dim. You're living in sin," Melvin shook with surprise.

"Yeah guys. I'm an Earth Angel. Or at least part of one. But don't start calling me Naramon, people might get the wrong impression." he shrugged. "So I guess I better start my story."

"From what I've heard, my mother Mariah was an aguuamonkian Star Priestess, which I guess are female aguamonkies that watch the stars, plot the maps of the heavens, and see the future. Well, my mom was about to be ordained one, but before she did, she had to spend a month in the desert as a Purification Process. So one of the last nights she was walking in the desert alone away from the rest of her group. And she was getting really tired, so she decided to rest for the night. But when she woke up in the morning, she had an awkward feeling, like her clothes were tighter than they normally were. A few weeks later, she found out she was pregnant, but she hadn't…"Aqua Monkey searched for the right word. "…done the unthinkable."

He shrugged and spoke on. "So she quit that, much to the surprise to everyone around her and moved out. A few months later, she gave birth to me. That night, in the hospital, the ACID goats struck our realm. Nearly all of the rest of my species perished in the uprising, including my mother. But they didn't kill me and I don't know why. Maybe because I was so young that they thought they could bring me up as one of their own. So they brought me to Blade Runner Labs. That's where I met you, Mica, or Project MICA (Monkey In Complex Appearance). As the years went on, we became friends (or maybe even more than that) while the goats at the labs ran tests on us and kept record of our activity. We occasionally recieved a visit from Phaydees herself, who monitored and loved her two little "experiments" dearly. She treated us sort of like a mother, to be honest," He glanced at Mica. "Until you decided to run away. You were the one that realized the true evil of ACID and wanted to help put a stop to it. That's when you joined the Aqua Armada in Philamon, and I eventually followed your example."

"But how did you find out about this?" Bea asked.

He sighed. "Remember a few weeks before all of this started, you wanted me to go out into the desert during the night to collect rock samples and how pissed I was about having to do it? Well, I got some, as you instructed, and stopped to rest. Without knowing, I fell asleep. That night, I had a dream. I saw my mom. She was beautiful; she had hair the color of chestnuts and a fin that spilled down her head like a mane. And it was then that I finally found out who my father was: an Earth Angel. His name was Ivan and like all angels he was cast down from heaven to live upon the land in order to pay for his sin. They told me the story that I just told you guys and said that they wanted me to be happy. Then my father told me something that completely shocked me: Beakiss had killed him. It was one of the many murders that he was charged with." They heard Bea silently weeping, shocked that her brother had killed one of her best friend's father.

"They also gave me a spell to use in the time of my most dire need. But they never said what it was for. But I memorized it anyways. Then I woke up," Aqua Monkey stopped hovering and returned to his earthly, humble form and shrugged.

"That was amazing." Melvin said. "I just can't believe it. So this Ivan character apparently raped your mother in the desert while she was asleep? "

Aqua Monkey's eyes shifted to one side and then the other in sarcasm. "If you want to say that."

"As much as I'd like to hear more, look guys," Spyro pointed a claw out the window. Dawn was almost on the horizons and the clouds shone pink and gold in the early morning sun.

"You guys are right. Let's hurry up," Aqua Monkey hurried the group along out of the room. He took one last look at the room before silently closing the door.

Briskly, with new confidence, Spyro and Sparx led the group down the halls of the fortress until Bea showed them to a room. She opened the door. Behind it were dozens of portals. She walked around a bit until she found the one she was looking for.

"This should lead us back to the Professor's Lab," she stated. "Let's go." And with that she walked though the portal.

"I have a bad feeling about this, guys." Melvin said uneasily.

"Aw, c'mon, Mel. Having the extreme feelings of impending doom is DSI's job. Don't stress it." Mica said reassuringly as Aqua Monkey, herself, and Spyro and Sparx followed Bea.

Within the space between both worlds, Spyro always felt a slight tingling feeling, as did the others. But this time, it was different. Spyro felt like his very soul was being wrenched from his mortal body. Pain seared across every scale and he heard Mica scream, and someone's maniacal laughter, much worse than Ripto's laugh; it sounded like sandpaper on a cheese grater or pebbles in a blender. Spyro felt a chill go up his spine. He saw something white and black, with great, bat-like demon wings. Then, he saw Aqua Monkey's faint angelic form, and he slashed at the creature with his sword. The thing faded into darkness, and Spyro suddenly found himself in the Professor's Lab, along with his other friends. He breathed a great sigh of relief as he saw their smiling faces. The he heard three large _thumps _coming from overhead and a small creature fell out of a ceiling vent above them and onto the cold linoleum floor.

"Puri!" everyone except Spyro and Sparx yelled. Puri was another purple dragon, but wasn't from the Dragon Realms like Spyro was, and she didn't have a dragonfly. The horns that adorned her head were green and thick and the ruby-red crest on top of her head looked bristly, along with the spikes along her back and tail. Her wings had neon green webbing. She gave a stupid smile and a wave to the people around her.

"It's you!" Aqua Monkey said hysterically as he pointed one of his long, spindly fingers in her round face. "You're the one that was watching me back in the fortress! You were the one that almost destroyed the portal just a minute ago! Why are you doing this? Are you working for Phaydees or Ripto or something?"

The small Dragon got off of the floor and dusted herself off. "No. I did all of those things because I came here to warn you guys, duh. You have any idea what kind of trouble you guys'll get into back at HQ? If they find out you've been helping out the Dragon Realms, you'll suffer a fate worse than Beakiss!" she exclaimed. Bea gave her a teary-eyed look and Puri said "Sorry."

"Wait a minute," Sparx said. "You guys aren't supposed to be helping us? Then why are you here?"

Mica searched her mind for a reasonable explaination. "Well, back before the time of the Crystallization, the Aqua Armada was summoned to the Dragon Realms to help in making peace between the Gnorcs and the Dragons. Unfortunately, we failed miserably and the Dragons no longer wished for us to help them any more. So, we haven't, and there are special laws in the Aqua Armada code that prevent us from communicating with this realm. That's why there are no portals to here except in the Cherubic District. But when we heard of your plight, we _had _to do something to help out. Well, here we are."

Spyro rolled his eyes. "Well, we really can't worry about that now. We have to stop Phaydees! Let's go, guys!" He led them toward an exit. Puri loped up next to him and winked at him. Spyro raised an eyebrow, did Puri like him or something? He shrugged off as he remembered how he was going to save Elora by transforming into dozens of different creatures to defeat that goat tyrant. He opened the exit door with a firm claw and they walked out.

------------------------------------------------------------

Back at Chateau Ripto, Phaydees was with Zola, leading her to the dungeon. Zola was miserable, as was Phaydees for just being in an out of two bodies. With gritted teeth she led Zola through the grimy halls and her rage fueled her to stagger onward. She thought about Ripto, his smirking expressing fresh in her mind, haunting her to no end. That riptoc…the creature that killed her beloved Corky. In the midst of all the pain and rage, the she-goat had a vision in her mind. She saw that purple scaled rat and his moronic friends of the Aqua Armada, ready to go challenge her. She saw that Spyro was talking about her, how she was going to be defeated the minute they reached her. He laughed at her, how that she had really done nothing to harm him or his friends. And she **_hated _**it. She thought about what she could do about it. Suddenly, she had an evil idea. She had a spell she could use, a spell that could summon unspeakable evil. The words of a dead language of Black Magic flowed out of her mouth. Zola stopped and stared as Phaydees zealously continued her spell. Abruptly, she stopped, brushed herself off and said, "Now that's done, I feel much better about myself. But I'm sure that demonic dragon's opinion of me is going to change…" There was an evil smirk on her face that gave Zola a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

-----------------------------------------------

It was raining when they got outside, Spyro felt something cold and wet drip onto his head. He looked heavenward. Red rain? Since when was that normal in the Dragon Realms? He quickly came to his senses and realized what the rain was.

"Rain of blood…summons a creature of unfathomable power. Lifeblood fuel…" Aqua Monkey caught the drops of ruby blood in his hands and stared at the sky with disbelief.

"What's up with this?" Melvin's raspy voice wavered off.

Aqua Monkey said with great urgency. "Spyro, all of your friends are dead."

Spyro fel back and fainted into velvety blackness.

--------------------------------------------

"Spyro…Spyro…" a distant, watery sounding voice called. It was Puri, awakening him from his fainting spell.

He groaned and sat up. He had fainted for about thirty minutes, anf the last thing he remembered was Aqua Monkey saying something about all of his friends dying. The bloody rain was still falling around him. "Are all of my friends _really _dead?" he asked weakly.

Aqua Monkey thought a moment. "Yes. In a way. I just discovered something, a spell that Phaydees has just cast. She has drained the blood of all the creatures in this realm, dragons, fauns it doesn't matter. As the ground soaks up their blood that falls from the sky, a creature awakens. Their blood is going to keep that creature of death alive. But I have no idea what it could be." He sighed.

"That is sick." Sparx plainly stated.

With a queasy stomach and a heavy heart, Spyro said, "We are going to kill Phaydees. We have to."

------------------------------------------------

SO GOOD! The long awaited Chapter 8 of A.C.I.D. Reign is finally completed. Keep a look out for the next chapter! I hope the length of this one makes up for me not updating in a while…Yeah.

-DSI


	9. The Field of Waking Dreams

**Spyro: A.C.I.D. Reign**

**Chapter 9: The Field of Waking Dreams**

**Good gravy, I'm sorry I haven't updated in like forever! I know chances are, there's some little fruitcake out there MSTing this because it looks abandoned. But I haven't forgotten! I just wanna thank you guys for all the support you've given me and the fanart you've drawn. It has really helped in the completion of this fic. But obviously, this isn't the last chapter. I'm trying to make the fic actually serious now. So yeah. Read and review, please. (P.S. and the strange symbol on the cliff is NOT the Keywork. Ask me and I'll show you a pic of what it looks like)**

* * *

Phaydees led Zola through an underground passage. Previously, in years before, it had been used as an escape tunnel in case a sudden threat had come upon the castle. Several forgotten lanterns hung from the dirt walls, and Phaydees set them aglow with what appeared to be a lighter as she passed, illuminating the walls so that they became a deep, blue-gray color. At least that's what it looked like to Zola. If you can recall, she was under a spell that controlled her every movement, which was why she had not tried to escape yet. She even had trouble controlling her own thoughts; her dreams and memories were filled with almost nothing but Phaydees' rage. Occasionally a snippet of a lost memory would float by in her mind and she would try to capture it. One was a memory of Ripto in A.C.I.D. and how happy he was-- for a very short time. Another was in doctor's office. Her mother was at her side crying, and she felt a sharp pain in her back and a feeling of shock. Being mocked, being rejected by the popular group at ACID…everything was a blur. Spinning…spinning… such a mix of pain and happy memories. She was weak and her vision was distorted. Her knees buckled and her stomach churned as she felt vomit come up in her mouth. Just as she was about to faint, they reached a dead end. 

"Hold on," Phaydees commanded as Zola slumped against the wall. "Get up, stupe. If it weren't for your foolishness, none of this would've happened. Have you any idea what the impact of being in Ripto's body did to my mental well-being?" She slapped Zola in the face.

"Certainly made you more screwed up than you already are," Zola thought to herself. She could feel her face throbbing in pain. "Wait a minute. I thought something on my own!" In Zola's weakness, was she actually fighting off Phaydees' defenses?

"I hear someone coming," Phaydees whispered to herself. She crouched down so that her goatish ears were to the ground to hear sound vibrations. "I'm anxious to see who it is, but I don't want to leave you here. Oh wait, I forgot. You can't move." She laughed lightly to herself and she kicked Zola to get up. Facedown on the cold stone floor, Zola found the strength to get up and backtrack.

"God, my life is one big joke. I wish I could just die right now. It's better than whatever Phaydees is going to do to me." Zola's lower lip trembled in fear as they retraced their steps back to find the source of the noise. Louder and louder the footsteps grew, the pitter patter of feet soon turning into what seemed like an entire army, rushing upon the two goats to destroy them. The noise pounded its way into Zola's mind, hammering the horrifying sound into the very depths of the meek domestic farm animal's soul until she couldn't stand it any more. She was going insane, now the voices mixed with Phaydees' own rage and the resonant footsteps were driving her off the edge. Releasing a scream of anguish like a thing possessed, she fell to her knees and met the source of the horrible noise.

…

It was Gulp. The moronic quadruped dinosaur's fanged smile was a little comforting to her, knowing he really couldn't do much harm unless Ripto provoked him to. The missile launchers on his back gleamed in lantern light and he cocked his head to the side, as if confused.

"Maaaaaaan. Gulp, why are you here?" Phaydees whined. "Did that demonic dinosaur send you? 'Oh, riptoc gods above, I'm so afraid of Phaydees! I know! I send Gulp to kick their asses!' God, he knows better. " Phaydees mimicked Ripto's voice.

Gulp was dejected as Phaydees continued. "I mean, you're hardly reliable, Gulp. You think Ripto would've learned that by now but oh nooooo. But I'm only ranting stereotypically as all villainesses do. "

Only then did Gulp speak up. "Seems like you could power a small realm with your 'ranting'." he started. "But can't I help? I mean, it's not like _I'm _some transmogrified goat that was once your former lackey. And you're a lot nicer than Ripto. I think he likes you."

Phaydees's rage got the best of her. Screaming at the top of her lungs in a voice that made rubble shake loose from the tunnel walls, she shrieked "WHY IS EVERYONE ON THIS FIXATION ABOUT ME AND RIPTO! I want to make the little riptoc suffer!" Zola raised an eyebrow in surprise and Gulp looked at her, not intimidated at all as every lantern in the tunnel sputtered and was extinguished. Phaydees ceased her ranting and let out a sigh of discontent.

"God, Gulp, just come with us. Just don't get in the way, please." she gestured with her hand for him to hurry along. Zola looked at Gulp and couldn't help but pity him. His stupidity masked his innocence. If Ripto hadn't forced him into being some cold-blooded obedient lackey…She wondered if Gulp would be a lot happier if it weren't for Ripto. Maybe, just maybe if she had not told Ripto about the fight that day in A.C.I.D…

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Professor's Lab, the group, who had now become well acquainted with Puri, was discussing the matter at hand. Spyro couldn't stand looking at the pale, pallid bloodless bodies that were once his friends. He meant every word of his threat to destroy Phaydees. 

"You just can't go up and claw her eyes out, Spyro. I've dealt with these types of things before, and she's probably got some sort of barrier spells around her." Mica stated. Spyro didn't even ask about her previous adventures.

"Well, we still have the transmogrifier," Melvin said. "This hunk of plastic has to be useful for something." He absentmindedly zapped a spider dangling from its web on the wall. It transformed into a cherry pie; Melvin quickly grabbed it and hid it from view, anxious to eat the pie himself. Aqua monkey rolled his eyes.

"Melvin has a point, Spyro." Bea said. "If you can transform into a powerful-enough creature, you just might be able to penetrate Phaydees' spell. And if we destroy her, the spells are destroyed as well. But if you fail, Phaydees will devour your flesh like Melvin and that cherry pie over there."

"What? I didn't do anything!" The blue-haired mouse said with his mouth full of cherry filling and pie crust. Sparx buzzed with laughter and Spyro shot an angry glance at him.

"Didn't you used to go to A.C.I.D., Melvin? How do we know you're not a spy? How do I know you're not all spies? Hell, you could be leading me to Phaydees right now!" Spyro exclaimed.

"So maybe I used to go to A.C.I.D.!" Melvin cried suddenly. He swallowed the remaining pie in his mouth and continued shouting. "Who cares? Maybe I used to be friends with Ripto! Whoop-dee-doo! I didn't have anything to do with Corky's death! He never told me he was going to kill anyone! There you go. Satisfied?" The others stood in awkward silence and Melvin panted. "All those innocent goats…" she slumped into a ball on the floor.

"Melvin…we knew you went to A.C.I.D., but you used to be friends with Ripto? Why didn't you tell us?" Mica said quietly.

"You guys wouldn't understand. Yeah, I used to be great friends with Ripto. Everyone knew he wanted to kill Corky…" he racked his brain to remember "…something about him almost being immortal…but when he fulfilled his vow to kill him, that's when I knew I couldn't trust him…I mean, nobody thought he could honestly do it…"

Puri sighed and tried to get back on-topic. "We all want to get rid of Phaydees, Spyro. Well…I do to, but I'm just here to look after these four's sorry butts." She waved a claw at Mica, Melvin Bea and Aqua Monkey.

"Hey you shut up, Puri!" Aqua Monkey said in defense.

"Well…well you can take that transmogrifier and shove it up your--Bea, what the hell are you doing?" She turned her head to look at the small cherub, who was yet again work on another portal, but this one was different.

"Bea, are you really sure about what you're doing? That's the portal to Ripto's realm, from when the Professor accidentally tore a hole in the fabric of time and space," Spyro said uneasily. He looked toward the swirling blue twist of light and Bea, who was inspecting the area around it.

"I know that, Spyro. What I don't know is why we didn't think of it before. We tried using that other portal to get there, but we ended up fighting Zoloe. So why not use the most obvious portal to Ripto's realm?" Bea asked

"Because it's unsafe, unstable, too much of a plot hole…" Mica counted the reasons on her hands.

"Bea still has something there, Mica." Aqua Monkey stated. "I don't think Phaydees even knows about this. She probably just made a temporary portal for her and Zola to travel from Avalar to Ripto's realm."

"The real question is, how the two of them got to Avalar in the first place--hey wait a minute! What are you doing, Bea?" Spyro shouted.

"Going through the portal, stupid." Bea hollered back as she stepped through blue torrent of light.

"Should we follow her?" Melvin asked.

"What other choice do we have?" Mica said and she rolled her eyes."

* * *

Spyro was relived to find that the portal was still in working order when he arrived safely in Ripto's realm. "It doesn't look familiar to me." Spyro said as he surveyed his surroundings. It looked as if they were in some sort of valley. Except there was hardly any plant life, mainly dry ground interrupted with rocks here and there. He turned around and behind him was a large mountain range. The serrated peaks of rock and earth gave the red skyline a jagged look, as if the sky was a piece of roughly-cut fabric. 

"Yes! Finally! I kiss the sweet ground! I thank my stars!" Mica rejoiced. Everyone stared at her, disturbed, yet amused. "What? It is my homeland, in a sense." Mica stated.

"Okay, so because you're so smart and you lived here, can you tell us where the crap we are?" Puri said with a tone of sarcasm in her voice.

"I can tell that we're undoubtedly in Ripto's realm." Mica said.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Melvin said in a bored tone as he pushed the hair out of his eyes.

"Shut up. But as I was saying, I think I've been here before. I'm getting some peculiar vibes from this place…oh no." Mica breathed silently. "I know exactly where we are. And I know exactly where Phaydees is going. It's only up that cliff. I don't have time to explain, but I'll try to on the way. But it has a bit to do with Corky." She pointed to a small peak in the distance. It didn't seem like it was too far away. She saw Spyro shudder and realized that everyone's lives could be changed on that overhang

"It about time he came into play." Sparx rolled his eyes and rested in a patch of dry grass.

"Can you just tell us where we are before we go on some wild goose chase? ---Bea! Stop harassing those poor things!" Aqua Monkey exclaimed as Bea chased flock of wild geese that were resting a few yards away.

"Heh heh…got a bit preoccupied." Bea blushed.

"I'd at least think you'd know of all people, Naramon." Mica said. Aqua Monkey cringed at his true name. She whispered something in his ear, and a shocked look came over his face. "God…that's the place where Corky would…" his voice trailed off into a whisper only he could hear.

Something about where we're going…it's really distressing Aqua Monkey. I don't think we're going to Chateau Ripto just yet, but wherever we're going, it can't be good if it has to do with Corky. Spyro thought.

They began walking. Mica at the lead, she was the one who gave directions to where they were going. Eyes set on the cliff in the distance, she quickened her pace. The others followed suit. She remembered where she was walking through and sped up. Soon, she was in a muck sweat and running at almost full speed, which is very fast, even for a genetically improved hybrid as herself.

"Mica, could you slow down?" Spyro panted. He looked around at his companions. Bea had completely given up on running with such short legs and was flapping her feathery wings furiously in order to keep up. Melvin almost tripped over his long tail while running and Aqua Monkey wiped sweat off of his brow and struggled with his shoe as he was running.

"Where's the fire, anyways? We or Spyro at least, should conserve our energy." Sparx buzzed and tried to be heard.

Mica looked around at her surroundings: she has dragged them even farther into the rocky valley. The cliff seemed a little closer, which was a relief. But she couldn't stop running. She had a peculiar look on her face and finally stopped running. Aqua Monkey flopped sarcastically onto his back and was panting.

"I'm going to die," he managed to say "I was hit by a runaway plot bus."

"He's got a point, Mica. Why are you going so fast? Well, despite the lives of my friends are at sake, and that Phaydees is trying to resurrect a demonic monster…" Spyro stated with blunt sarcasm. "I mean, do you even know your way around here and--ELORA!" Spyro looked straight out across the valley, and saw all of his friends. Elora, Hunter, Bianca, the Professor and everyone else were there, having a picnic. Elora seemed to notice Spyro, and she happily waved, flashed a smile and gestured with her hand for him to come and join them. Spyro walked toward them, with a hypnotized look on his face. But the closer he moved in the direction of his friends, the farther away they appeared to be.

"Spyro stop!" Puri shouted "What in the name of holey Swiss cheese are you doing?" Puri stepped on his tail and Spyro stopped suddenly. Puri's voice snapped him out of the spell, and his friends seemed to waver and disappear before his eyes.

"Didn't you guys see them? Elora! Everyone: Hunter, Bianca, and the Professor they were there just a second ago!" Spyro stammered.

"That's what I was going to explain, Spyro. This is the Field of Waking Dreams. Anyone who travels through it will see what they desire the most in the distance. Spyro, for instance, saw his friends happy and safe. That's why I was running so fast. I had my eyes closed so I wouldn't get distracted…" Mica explained. She kicked up some dirt on the ground, and something red shone on her shoes. With a look of disgusted fear on her face, she tried to wipe it off on a patch of dry grass, only succeeding in getting her shoe more covered in what appeared to be blood.

"That really is gross," Melvin said "I didn't think Phay could find an energy source strong enough to power such a spell." He handed Mica a clean tissue to wipe her shoe.

"Well there's no use waiting around," Aqua Monkey said. "We should just keep walking. Just keep your eyes close to the ground and don't look up. We can't lose anyone." Even Bea stopped hovering in the air and started walking, knowing she really couldn't fly around with her eves closed unless she wanted to hurt herself. Not a lot of conversation went on between the heroes as they walked. It seemed like tension was building up in the air because of the battle at hand.

Suddenly, Aqua Monkey heard something. Someone was calling his name: a woman's voice, which calmed his anxious nerves like a lullaby. He hadn't known such peace since he had left Blade Runner Labs and the surrogate mothers there. He almost found himself crying. Without thinking, he looked upward. There, he saw who was whispering to him: a female aguamonkey, with a three-pointed fin on her head, flowing blonde hair, and wearing blue sorceress garb. Next to her, stood what looked to be a human, but he had dozens of pairs of wings behind him. He had black hair, strange red markings on his face and was wearing a white robe lined with gold. He had his arm around the female's waist. Only then did Naramon realize who he was looking at.

"Mom? Dad?" he blurted out and ran toward them. He experienced the same thing as Spyro: the more he ran, the farther away they appeared.

"Aqua Monkey, stop it!" Bea's voice called. "Oh dear…Beakiss." she had fallen under the spell as well, and flew in the opposite direction to see her brother: the white cherub with black markings and bat wings waved and smiled at her with dangerous-looking fangs.

"What are we going to do?" Spyro shouted, still looking to the ground. He started charging toward Aqua Monkey. Mica ran in the other direction after Bea.

"Wait? What should I do?" Puri shouted. Spyro walked back, practically dragging a reluctant Aqua Monkey by his feet. Mica had Bea in what appeared to be a bear hug, except her hands were covering Bea's eyes.

"Let me go! Beakiss isn't dead! He's come back!…yes. Oh, you'll all pay…" Bea suddenly said in a voice that wasn't her own, a deeper, harsher voice. She bared her Cherubic fangs and her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she let out a harsh, demonic laugh, and was drooling on disgusted Mica.

"Bea, snap out of it!" Puri blindly slapped her across the face with one of her purple claws hands. "See? I did make use of myself." she added. Bea gasped and whatever was wrong with her appeared to stop.

"That's never happened before…" Melvin's voice drifted off. He had yet to fall victim to the spell's effects. "Bea, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm sure I'll be fine. Thanks, Puri." Bea said with a small smile.

"Anytime, pal." Puri said with a hint of sarcasm.

It wasn't long before they finally reached the edge of the cliff. Spyro craned his neck to get a good look at what they had to climb. The blue-gray cliff seemed loom over them perilously, as if an earthquake was going to cause it to collapse upon them any second. Boulders jutted out of the rocky overhang, and rocks that looked like knifes of stone stuck out, as if they were supposed to be footholds.

"Okay, someone's going to have to fly up there to see if the coast is clear." Mica said. Everyone looked at Sparx.

"What? Oh no, I'm not going up there. You can't make me! What if Phaydees is up there?" Sparx buzzed furiously.

Puri replied "Sparx, Spyro can't fly well yet. I'd do it myself, but you're the only one who really can fly up there to check and risk getting caught. You're the least noticeable of all of us."

Sparx reluctantly sighed. "All right. I'll go." He started flying up the cliff.

"Sparx, be careful." Spyro said. He wished he could go in Sparx's place. He loved Sparx like a brother and couldn't handle it if any harm came to him, not only because he'd be at a loss for hit points, but a loss of the only being he could claim as something of a brother. He watched silently as Sparx flew out of sight into the fog that surrounded the cliff, with only his dragonfly glow visible. Spyro craned his neck to see, but it was no use. About fifteen minutes later, Spyro heard a faint buzzing noise, which was Sparx.

* * *

Phaydees, Zola and Gulp had finally reached their destination. A trap door led up out of the earth and to wherever they were going. Once she and Phaydees had gotten out, Zola wondered how Gulp would fit. But somehow, the passageway seemed to shrink or grow in according to whoever was passing through. Zola silently cursed at this. She didn't want a lackey weaker than her to see her fail at something. 

She gazed weakly and warily at her surroundings. Nothing seemed to grow on the cliff, as the rest of the land around her, but there was a peculiar circular symbol at the very edge of the cliff. It wasn't very large, only about 20 feet in diameter. A triangle in the middle of the circle had a small star at its top. Three formations of curved lines topped the strange circle. All these seemed to be drawn in a bright blue that seemed to glow. Zola knew what this place was for: an evil, horrible place, where Corky worked his spells of immortality. Zola knew what went on here, and even though her memory was fuzzy, she couldn't deny the rumors of the sacrifices that occurred here…

"Ah, the perfect place to torture someone. Smell that fresh mountain air!" Phaydees proclaimed loudly.

"I think that was me. Sorry." Gulp admitted.

Phaydees shot him an angry look, but it quickly dissolved on her face when she remembered what she was doing here. Out of nowhere, bolts of blue lightning shot out of the darkened sky. They formed some kind of chains around Zola's arms and legs, binding her to the ground.

"This is wrong on so many levels," Zola thought as she winced in pain.

Phaydees withdrew her transmogrifier. Aiming at a stone on the ground, she shape shifted it into a large sword. She used it to pin down Zola by her hair, almost cutting Zola's right ear off. She cried out in pain.

Phaydees said leaned on her sword casually. "I know you've had a hard life, Zola. And it breaks my heart to do this. Well, not really. But when you promised to work for me, you pledged your life. And sometimes…the lives of others need to be sacrificed for a greater good. Don't you want to avenge your friends and family? Wouldn't you sacrifice your life in order for me to carry that out that age-long duty? Corky promised me immortality, and that's what I'm going to get. And in this new age: you have the honor of being the first soul to offer to the void."

The evil goat paused, as if she were giving a grand speech to an audience and was making them anticipate her words. "Yes, that's exactly what I shall do." She rested the blade of the sword on Zola's left arm, and it penetrated her skin slightly, but enough so that the wound was gushing blood. The ground immediately absorbed it. "Once your limbs are detached, I'm going to squash you like the insect you are. You've let people walk all over you your entire life, and that's what will happen.--"

"In other words, she'll transmogrify you into a bug and squish you," Gulp said. Zola's mouth gaped open in horror.

"Thanks Gulp, you just ruined the end of my story." Phaydees sighed. "Ah well, the sooner you get to suffer. Now…" All of a sudden, a small glistening body of gold light fluttered around her head. It was Sparx, trying to create a diversion.

"What the…?" In one swift movement, Phaydees caught the dragonfly and held him in a fist. He pleaded to be freed and beat his wings furiously. "Well, well, Sparx. Ripto had the mind to scatter all the dragonflies, but I have the most important one of all…"

* * *

"NO! LET ME GO!" Sparx screamed faintly but furiously. The others were in horror. Spyro's eyes were wide with fear and he was shouting orders to go climb up after Sparx. Aqua Monkey already had started climbing and tears were streaming down Mica's face. Melvin was running around screaming, brandishing his swords and ready to attack. Bea was comforting Puri, who was horrified at what she made Sparx do. 

"Stop! We can handle this like semi-mature fan characters!" Aqua Monkey yelled above the others. They silenced. "Good. First off: Puri, this is your fault and I know you admit it. Second, we can't act like this! We're supposed to be rescuing people, not screaming like kindergarten kids at a soccer game. Let's just calmly climb up there and rescue Sparx, okay? I'll get off my soapbox now." He sighed and helped the others up the rocks.

Spyro led the group. He tried to use his flame breath to enlighten the fog around them, but it proved to be of no avail. His claws bled from snagging them along the sharp rocks, and the rest of what would be considered his hand was practically cut to ribbons. He hissed in pain as dirt got in his wounds.

"Spyro, you just clawed me in the eye!" Mica yelled up to him, not in pain but out of annoyance. Dry twigs and dust clung to her enormous hair and her foot almost slipped, but she caught herself just in time. Melvin placed her foot back on the rock and adjusted his glasses.

"Melvin get your tail out of my face." Bea called.

"Bea why aren't you flying?" Melvin asked. Bea didn't reply.

Puri appeared to be the only one with any sense. She had climbed on the opposite side of the rest, alongside Naramon. The two of them seemed to be locked in secret battle, each climbing faster than the other as if there was a prize for the winner at the very top, other than a violent death. Both were completely unaware that they were dangling perilously on the brink of death, and just the slip of a claw or hand would cause their deaths. Which was exactly what almost happened. His hands absorbed with swat, Naramon slipped. Only his tail hung from a small boulder was keeping him up. He screamed in fear, and Bea heard him. Flying toward him, she lifted him up and placed him back on the rock.

"You should really be careful," Puri said sarcastically between panting.

"I can look after myself," he replied. "Thanks Bea."

"And you asked why I wasn't flying," Bea smirked at Melvin.

"That's exactly what I…never mind." As he said that, they had reached the top of the cliff. That's where Melvin went into shock and rage at the same time. Seeing the girl he once loved when he was younger, chained up like an animal and tortured until she was near death by this…this horrible goat monster who never seemed to age. Awkwardly he slung one leg over the other and stood upon the cliff with a mix of seriousness, disgust and anger on his face. He drew one of his swords and ran toward Phaydees.

"Damn you, you petting-zoo freak! You've been the cause of so much pain for as long as anyone can remember! And now I'm going to put a stop to it!" Melvin was thrown backwards by some energy force field, which ran around the edge of a circle. The others stood behind him, with Spyro by his side ready to back him up. He was shocked at Melvin's seriousness for once.

"Yeah, you can hide behind your sissy spells and force fields. But the help of a dead guy who could've been used to knit a sweater won't help you know! Because I have my friends behind me. I don't know anything about magic, but that's the one force that will never fail me: my friends." Melvin yelled.

The force field seemed to dissolve around Phaydees. "Well, it seems like the student is trying to surpass the master. Heh, let your dragon friend fight your battles for you, he's much more fun to destroy."

She looked at Spyro. "I've been waiting to meet the dragon who has been the cause of Ripto's falls so many times. Even in suspended animation deep under Avalar I could sense some presence of goodness above. And I knew Ripto was close. But I've already got him. It's just too bad that our meeting has to end so quickly." Phaydees said darkly with an evil smile.

"Melvin's right: you are a monster. I might not be strong enough to defeat you just yet, but I can sure as hell try." He looked to Sparx, who was chained to the ground just as Zola was. His wings were torn and his body battered. Then he looked to his friends. Naramon had the transmogrifier in his hand. Spyro nodded his head and Naramon aimed the gun. In a flash of white Cherubic light, Spyro was a towering mass of muscles and strength. Phaydees aimed her gun at her own head, but instead was transformed into the same thing as what Melvin insulted her: a goat that looked like it belonged in a petting zoo. Running at full speed, she butted Spyro in the stomach, and he reeled backward. Meanwhile, Naramon shouted orders.

"Bea and Mica! Work on getting Sparx free! Melvin, you can get Zola free! Puri…" but she was already helping Melvin. _She never listens. _He sighed.

Melvin ran to Zola. He trembled with fear as he saw her chained up. Zola thought she had already died and gone to heaven and was looking into the face of a blue-haired angel.

"Melvin. Am I going to die?" she said in a delirious voice.

He didn't know what to say. Puri looked at him. "No, you're not going to die. You're going to come live with us. And you'll be happy forever and you'll never have to obey Phaydees again. You're life will be happy."

"I'm going to be happy…" Zola managed to say until she silently fainted.

Spyro and Phaydees were still battling. Spyro appeared weak, and Naramon fired the gun again, and he transformed into an Eastern-style Dragon. He coiled his snakelike body around the goat, ready to crush the life out of her. Phaydees, who had the transmogrifier in her teeth, somehow pulled the trigger and she was transformed into some sort of shadowy essence or outline of her normal self. A glowing black darkness shot from her eyes, injuring Spyro. Another zap of the gun, and he was a Cherub: but in a dragon form. His body was purple and his wings gold and brown as normal, but instead of antennae, he had his normal horns. He flew swiftly at the shadow and instead of blowing flames in her face, like an instinct, a white-hot bolt of energy formed at the tips of his horns and shot the shadow in the head. It fell backward, crashing onto Zola, whom Melvin and Puri had just succeeded in freeing. Puri moved Melvin away from the impact, but it was too late. Zola, receiving the head-on effect of Phaydees crashing into her and was pushed over the cliff from the edge of the cliff, a stream of blood flowing after her.

"ZOLA! NOOOOOOOO!" Melvin shrieked with tears in his eyes and sunk to his knees. Meanwhile, Phaydees seemed to disappear. She hadn't fallen off the cliff, but she was nowhere in sight. Aqua Monkey brought Spyro back to his normal form and they gathered around Melvin to comfort him. Even Gulp, who remained suprisingly quiet during the battle, gathered with them.Spyro placed a claw on his shoulder and both Mica and Bea hugged him. Puri just stood blankly, with Sparx buzzing around her, happy to be free, yet saddened by Zola. Aqua Monkey kneeled in front of the mouse.

"Melvin…God, I am so sorry." was all the seamonkey angel hybrid could manage to say.

"I tried everything…she told me she didn't love me when she went to work for Phaydees. It was the control Phaydees had…Spyro…she does need to die." Melvin spat and cried.

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**Thanks for reading. If there are any mistakes,I know, I'm just too lazy and tired to fix themI hope to update soon. Please review! Thanks!**


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